High Wycombe: Plans for eight-stage film studios submitted

An eight-stage film studios is planned near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire

Final plans for a new film studio that seeks to blend in with its surroundings have been submitted.

Stage Fifty said the eight-stage Wycombe Film Studios, near High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, would support 1,200 jobs and bring £305m to the area.

The proposal includes tree screening, green walls and special cladding to help it "merge with the landscape".

Buckinghamshire Council is expected to reach a decision in January.

The 26-acre site just off the M40 is next to Wycombe Air Park

The proposed 26-acre site just off the M40 next to Wycombe Air Park, was allocated as an employment area in Wycombe district's local plan in 2019.

The first sound stage had already been built under temporary planning approval to support a film shooting this year.

The company said the studios would "merge with the landscape and skyline"

An application for a permanent studios sets out how the company will turn the site into a "sustainable film studio" and "deliver multi-million-pound investment to the region".

Once fully operational, it will support about 750 full-time jobs and 450 indirect jobs, the company said, and it will offer traineeships and industry placements through its Academy of Creative and Technical Arts (ACTA).

Stage Fifty chief executive, James Enright, said: "We want to build a sustainable studio that the people of Wycombe are proud of, one that will create exciting new jobs for the community and generate around £305m gross value added."

Stage Fifty said buildings would be clad in timber, have green roofs and sit in wildlife-friendly planting and grasses

The company said it had given "regard to the site's setting" and as such, had included tree screening and green walls on the stage buildings to blend in with the tree line and "soften the view" for its neighbours, while specially designed cladding with faded grading will "help the stages merge with the landscape and skyline".

It added that the sound stages were almost fully recyclable and other buildings would be clad in timber, have green roofs and sit in wildlife-friendly planting and grasses.

A resident of the neighbouring Claymoor Park estate, Alan France, said the company had "taken our feedback on board and have tried to adjust their plan to meet our requests".

Mr Enright added that as soon as the authority had made a decision "everything can happen in a short timeframe" as the sound stage design meant they could be built quickly.