Stewartby film studio decision deferred over council mistake

Plans for film and TV studios at the old Quest Pit site include production offices, workshops and screening rooms

A decision on approving or rejecting new film studios have been deferred due to an "embarrassing mistake".

Central Bedfordshire Council debated whether Quest Pit Ltd could develop a former quarry in Stewartby, creating hundreds of jobs.

But during the meeting they discovered planning officers had not given them all the information they needed.

Committee chairman Gareth Mackey said it was "completely unacceptable" and apologised to all who had taken part.

A report to the Development Management Committee said the plans for large film and TV production centre would "deliver a number of significant economic benefits".

House of Production (HOP), the brand that would build and run the studio, said the Quest Pit-owned land, once earmarked for a giant aquarium project, was the "perfect site".

The development, including stages, production offices, workshops and screening rooms, was expected to provide more than 700 jobs during each year of construction and, once operational, it would create about 200 permanent jobs and support hundreds more.

It was also thought it could generate some £242m per year in community benefit to local businesses.

Wildlife mitigation

However, the report also said it would cause substantial harm to a county wildlife site.

The company's proposal for off-site mitigation through a S106 agreement, in parallel with the social and economic benefits, justified the harmful impact on that site, council officers said.

A site had been secured for wildlife mitigation, but the paper about it had not been distributed to councillors beforehand and had not appeared online until Tuesday.

A council legal advisor said that this could allow for a legal challenge and he advised a deferral for a consultation.

The committee agreed and independent councillor Mr Mackey said it was "embarrassing to get to this position" and the authority "needed to look into how it happened".

Conservative councillor Nigel Young, who earlier in the debate had said "there has never been an application to date that has provided so many benefits for the residents of Central Bedfordshire", added that everybody would have to do the whole debate again "because we didn't get something right".

The former quarry on Ampthill Road, about five miles (8km) from Bedford, opened in 1983 and was the last active brick pit in Bedfordshire, extracting Oxford clay. It stopped operating in 2008.

The Nirah aquarium project was supposed to have been built by 2012