The CEO of Marlow Film Studios has said he is ‘considering next steps’ after the plans were refused by Buckinghamshire Council – but locals are urging him to throw in the towel and draw a line under the ‘sorry episode’.

Plans to build a multi-million-pound film studio on Greenbelt land near the A404 in Little Marlow were refused by the council’s Strategic Sites Committee following nearly six hours of debate yesterday (May 30).

Councillors described the weighing-up exercise between the studio’s economic appeal and environmental harm as a “very difficult decision”, but ultimately voted to approve the planning officer's recommendation and refuse the large-scale proposal.

Robert Laycock, CEO of Marlow Film Studios, said he was “disappointed” by the result, especially after committee members acknowledged “the very significant social and economic benefits” the project could bring to the county.

He also thanked the “unprecedented” number of local supporters who attended the meeting, adding: “(This) is one of the most significant investment opportunities in the future of Buckinghamshire and its residents, and we are now considering next steps for the development.”

While Mr Laycock and Dido Property Ltd, the company behind the project, have the right to appeal Bucks Council’s decision, members of a local campaign group committed to protecting Marlow’s Greenbelt land have urged them to simply throw in the towel and accept defeat.

A spokesperson for Save Marlow's Greenbelt said the committee “clearly agreed that the lack of certainty over the benefits and the absolute certainty of the harm” meant the proposed site was “the wrong place for a development of this type”.

They also said the project would have caused “traffic chaos, environmental destruction and huge damage to the local community” and cited a recent parish poll, where 85 per cent of voters said ‘No’ to the plans, as proof of majority local support for their cause – “despite millions spent to try to convince (residents) otherwise”.

Adding: “We hope that Dido Property Ltd now recognises that the studio isn’t needed, isn’t wanted and can never be justified. We recommend that they don’t throw good money after bad by going to appeal and that they draw a line under this sorry episode.”

READ MORE: Marlow nursery closed after Ofsted received 'staff member complaints'

Bucks Free Press readers were similarly split in their response to the council’s refusal of the planning application.

Darren Hayday referenced the purported career opportunities promised by a bespoke skills academy on the studio site, writing: “Yet more old people voting to shaft the younger generation – what a missed opportunity for the local area”.

However, Adela Louise suggested that the councillors had “listened to the professionals (who were) employed to advise on traffic (impact) and realised we didn’t want to live in a car park”, describing it as a “great decision”.

Prominent voices from both sides of the debate made their case during yesterday’s meeting, including British Film Institute chairperson Josh Berger, who argued that “more money is being spent on the UK film industry than at any point in history”, and Verity West, who lives at Westhorpe Park, a residential area bordering the development site.

Ms West made an impassioned case for the potential impact of the film studio on her “elderly and vulnerable neighbours”, telling the committee that several had told her they "didn’t want to live long enough to see it built”.

Cllr Richard Newcombe, Tory member for Wendover, Halton and Stoke Mandeville, told attendees it was “a privilege to decide (an) application of this importance to the nation”.

Despite acknowledging that “history is littered with people looking too finely into the bureaucracy of something and not allowing entrepreneurs to put their ideas into existence”, Cllr Newcombe, along with his colleagues, concluded that the site’s Greenbelt designation ultimately outweighed the developer’s big-picture argument.

Click here to read our live coverage of the meeting that determined the future of Marlow Film Studios.