Misleading pictures of film lot on greenbelt

Draft design pictures for new film studios in

Marlow show outdoor filming with dog walkers and cyclists going past and tall trees towering over the open aspect buildings. This is not what film studios are like.

The proposed buildings for the site are, in the main, 22m+ in height – they will not be masked by the tall trees that are currently planted by the road.

Film studios are, effectively, industrial sites where casual strolling and cycling would not be permitted for health and safety reasons, quite apart from the confidentiality and data protection required by film companies.

The pictures are fanciful PR.

The site already has two designations legally agreed: greenbelt and country park.

This is where the discussion should end for planners.

However many environmental assessments are done by Dido Properties (Guernsey) Ltd, it does not alter the fact that building on greenbelt destroys the benefits that greenbelt brings, forever.

Country park is not country park if it is used for industrial purposes.

Robert Laycock calls the land ‘neglected’. Perhaps it would be better designated as ‘rewilding slowly’.

Wild Marlow say how important this site is for wildlife and by extension to us all.

We, in the UK, now recognise that we have a civic duty towards climate change and nature recovery and these two crises are closely linked.

We must protect greenbelt at all costs for us and for the coming generations.

The many problems that will emanate from this proposed development will not just be confined to Marlow but affect surrounding areas too.

I urge you all to look at Save Marlow’s greenbelt website www.savemarlowsgreen belt.org to see all the other reasons to oppose the development: traffic issues creating traffic chaos and air pollution, water issues when the local Thames Water facility cannot cope with inflow, claims about local employment, unsubstantiated claims about net gains to the economy, the proliferation of extensions to other studios already in production thus making any extra studio space unnecessary, and others too numerous to outline here.

ANTHEA FALK Save Marlow’s Greenbelt