A local highway authority has advised the council to 'refuse' the Marlow Film Studios proposal on the grounds of 'insufficient information' about its impact on traffic in the area.

The Marlow Film Studios project has been the subject of continued discourse among residents, local authorities and voices further afield since a planning application was initially submitted to the Local Planning Authority, Buckinghamshire Council, in May 2022.

Purported to bring over 4,000 jobs to the area and deliver an economic boost to the county, the proposal has been championed by local officials and opposed by environmental campaigners who have warned of the proposal's effect on the transport networks surrounding its site, located on scrubland near the A404 and the Westhorpe Interchange. 

The Buckinghamshire Council Highway Authority has now given fuel to the fire of the latter hypothesis with a renewed recommendation on the project, dated September 29 and uploaded to the planning portal on October 4, in which a consultant states that "the development traffic will have an unacceptable impact on the operation of the local highway network", should it proceed based on the information currently available.

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The Highway Authority (HA) and National Highways both submitted revised comments on the application in the wake of a new Supplementary Transport Addendum and VISSIM modelling briefing note this week. 

While the HA consultant said the authority would "recommend the refusal of planning permission" due to "insufficient information" about the site's impact on highways, traffic and transport in the area, a spokesperson for National Highways, which oversees the A404 as part of the Strategic Road Network, recommended that permission not be granted for a specified period until November 24 while additional reviews take place. 

The VISSIM modelling review cited in the HA's statement indicated that development traffic was likely to impact several nearby junctions and increase queuing on the Little Marlow Road West Arm of the A4155 Little Marlow Road roundabout by up to 100 per cent during morning rush hour.

The Highway Authority also cited issues relating to the Sustainable Transport Strategy proposed by developers, which included plans for cycle and pedestrian routes, the efficacy of which was put into doubt by the site's proximity to the A404, creating a "significant barrier" between the studio and nearby residential areas. 

A spokesperson for Marlow Film Studios said: "Significant planned infrastructure improvements take time and Marlow Film Studios continues to work very closely with both Buckinghamshire Highways and National Highways as part of our proposal to bring a state-of-the-art film studios campus to the site of the former gravel pits on the A404."