Masterplan

hectare site

Access

Enhanced public right of way & accessible paths

Amenities

Publicly accessible cafe & pavilion building

472.000

sq ft of soundstages

Dedicated 5 acre backlot

410.000

sq ft of workshops

2 multi-story car parks. 1,108 spaces across the scheme

280.000

sq ft of offices

270

Over 270 cycle spaces

29.450

sq ft studio hub

Culture

and skills academy building

1.500

sq ft community building

The Masterplan

Located alongside the A404 dual carriageway.
Southern half of the site is left largely undeveloped, leaving more than 25 acres of the site and the waterbodies for quiet recreation and nature.
Area for quiet recreation retained near the existing homes, with permissive paths.
Area for wildlife retained around the backlot, assisting in views from Winter Hill.
Area for outside filming, known as a backlot.
Trees retained around the site.
Access to Westhorpe House Apartments and Westhorpe Park Homes maintained largely as now.
Solar panels and green roofs on all large soundstages.
Public Right of Way retained on its current route across the site and enhanced for cycling.
Ponds and swales on site to retain water and assist flooding.
Security. This is well-set within the site and uses non-intrusive measures to avoid queuing back to the road, such as booking vehicles in advance and using advanced number plate recognition technology.
Entrance square open to the public, hosting a public bus interchange.
A new public bus service will run from High Wycombe to Maidenhead, featuring a Marlow to Elizabeth Line journey in 20 mins.
A new public bus service will run around Marlow including stops in local communities and Bourne End.
Two multi storey car parks, which will be ready to go electric over time starting with 20% of spaces with EV chargers, and car journeys capped at 60%.
Existing pedestrian or cycling connections.
Enhanced pedestrian and cycle route across Westhorpe Junction.
New pedestrian and cycle route between Volvo Bridge and the Marlow Road.
Existing Lake-side footpath retained largely as now.
Poplars retained.
New Community Building available for hire by local groups.
Culture and Skills Academy providing space for on-site training, and available for community use out of hours.
Studio Hub providing a creative facility to film makers, with ticketed events open to the public.
Incubator space for new businesses.
60 acres adjacent to Spade Oak Lake contributing to the Country Park vision, used for biodiversity and new paths and cycle routes, less than a mile from the site.
New off-highway cycle route to Bourne End.
A new path connecting the existing circular route around the lake to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty north of the Marlow Road.

Building Clusters & Flexibility
Four independent clusters with each able to operate individually or together providing capacity to cater for multiple concurrent productions. This critical mass supports the on-site training facility – the Culture and Skills Academy.

Green Integration
Landscaping includes swales and ponds, planted with native species and ‘living-green’ roofs to support insects and invertebrates. Both have slow water runoff, so there is no increased risk from flooding. Smaller workshop buildings with a saw-tooth roof detail will break up the larger sound stages from more distant views.

The Studio Hub & Active Streetscape
In contrast to many existing film studios the development offers a vibrant environment with the main square containing amenities for the occupiers, and a Studio Hub providing a creative facility for filmmakers with ticketed events open to the public.

Recreational Routes
The existing public right of way across the site is retained on its current alignment, and enhanced for cycling, and the existing informal path next to Westhorpe Lake will be retained, along with the adjacent area being maintained for quiet recreation. New links are provided including a section off-highway between Little Marlow towards Bourne End.

MoreLess

Workshop & Office 01

A mixed-use workshop and office building with a distinctive multi-pitched roof. The building type is located in several places, with two or three storeys and external terrace space. Organised as ground floor workshops with a further level of workshop or office above.

Workshop & Office 02

A mixed-use workshop and office building with a unique sawtooth roof. The building type consists of two or three stories. Organised as ground floor workshops with a further level of workshop or office above.

Workshop & Office 03

A mixed-use workshop and office building in a rectilinear modular form. Accommodation is over three floors, the ground floor provides workshop space, level one is flex space designed to be either workshop or office with level two providing office space.

Workshop & Office 04

A headquarter typology over three levels with a rooftop pavilion.

Workshop & Office 06

Smaller workshop buildings split to provide double height workshops and two floors of office space.

Soundstage

These buildings provide large internal column-free space together with integrated support accommodation.

The flat roofs include living green roofs which combine water management and supporting insect life together with the installation of photovoltaic cells for the generation of electricity.

AMENITY PAVILIONS

Elegant single storey buildings will provide café space together with activity and animation of the streetscape.

Entrance Square

This consists of three buildings which surround a landscaped square. The space is located close to the main entrance and north carpark where visitors and most staff who work on the site will park. It also includes a café and the mobility hub that houses cycling facilities, showers, changing rooms, creche, fitness and health facilities. It is a public square and will provide a public transport interchange between the two bus routes that the Studios will be providing, as well as cycle and scooter hire.

Studio Hub

The Studio Hub will be a primary point of focus for filmmakers on the site. The building houses screening rooms, exhibition space, cafes, restaurants and HQ office accommodation. The sculpted form of the building with its raking upper level and distinctive mullions arrayed around the main elevation will create a distinct point of visual interest particularly for the public using the Public Right of Way that crosses through the development. There will be ticketed events open to the public.

Culture & Skills Academy

The Culture and Skills Academy building is located to the south in a quiet location from the main filmmaking activities. The main form of the building has two complimentary wings with an enclosed courtyard space for various functions to open out onto. The accommodation offers space for large groups of people for talks, seminars, and exhibitions. It will host the traineeship as well as being available for community use out of hours.

Back Lot

The most southerly part of the site will provide an area of five acres for external filming and 15 acres of tree and scrub planning that will be maintained for wildlife.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Marlow Film Studios (ref: 22/06443/FULEA).

I am writing in support of the application for Marlow Film Studios, a film studio planned on former landfill next to the A404, within the parish of Little Marlow.

I was really encouraged to read of the latest polling across Bucks showing overwhelming support for the project and for the jobs and economic development that come with it. The opinions of residents across Bucks matters, particularly those who live and work close to the Studio site.

This is a decision that Bucks councillors should be making on behalf our children, and their future. This is a decision about providing them with greater opportunity and wider chances. The next generation urgently need opportunities for careers that keep them within Bucks and allow our towns and villages to flourish as homes for all ages.

Providing sustainable jobs and careers is vital for the long-term prosperity of any community. The growth of the British film industry over recent years has been extraordinary and its future growth is backed by all the political parties. Marlow Film Studios intends to be the future centre for British filmmaking. The fact that we have an industry of this global standing planning to build studios in our county is something we should be proud of. Many of today’s young people want to work in the creative sector.

I am particularly excited at the possibilities it provides for our disadvantaged communities. For local people, the Studios will also be close to one of the more culturally diverse parts of Buckinghamshire. The Studios’ partnerships with institutions such as Buckinghamshire College Group will provide access points to the creative economy for an under-represented diverse community as part of Wycombe’s regeneration challenge.

I understand that all new developments present challenges. But I believe that considerable efforts are being made to manage these. I am pleased to note the financing of the road traffic improvements on the Westhorpe roundabout, the provision of new bus routes, the care being put into providing accessible parkland for residents and a biodiverse environment.

The Studios are being built on a former gravel pit, on land that is no longer suitable for agriculture use. I understand that any decision on Green Belt land needs to illustrate clear benefits to the community that outweigh the impact. Overall, I believe the strong benefits robustly and significantly outweigh the negative considerations, and so I strongly support the planning application.

What will happen to your details: When you click “send” on this form, you will be added to our campaign and we will generate the a letter of support in the form linked above in your name for the Marlow Film Studios planning application. We will share this letter with Buckinghamshire Council councillors and officers, Buckinghamshire Parish Council councillors, Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), and Members of Parliament. These organisations may upload this letter publicly on their planning portals and/or website and will adhere with their Privacy Policies. In particular, we are requesting that Buckinghamshire Council upload these letters to their Public Access website for our application. Any processing of data by Buckinghamshire Council will be in accordance with their Privacy Policy.

You may also submit comments or letters of support directly on the Public Access website.