An inquiry into Buckinghamshire Council’s rejection of the Marlow Film Studios project will begin early next year – with the final say on the controversial £750 million development going to housing secretary Angela Rayner.

The multi-million-pound studio was refused planning permission by a council committee in May for reasons including its incursion onto greenbelt land and the potentially overwhelming impact of new commuters on the local road network.

However, developers launched an appeal against the refusal in September and Ms Rayner, secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, said on Tuesday that she would consider the application herself following an inquiry into its benefits and detractions.

Planning documents confirm that the inquiry will begin at 10am on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, and is scheduled for 16 sitting days, from January 21 to 24, January 28 to 31, February 4 to 7 and February 11 to 14.

A letter dated October 8 from the planning inspectorate to the council explains that Ms Rayner’s decision to have the final say on the project is due to its “major importance” and “more than local significance” as well as its complexity in “raising important or novel issues of development control on the greenbelt”.

It comes after culture minister Lisa Nandy said last week that the housing ministry, which is responsible for planning policy, was “keeping the government’s mission to deliver economic growth at front of mind when making decisions about planning applications”.

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She told parliament that the ministry had “recovered an application for planning permission for Marlow Film Studios in Buckinghamshire” on Tuesday.

Adding: “The merits of that application will now be reviewed by their ministers in detail before reaching a decision.”

A spokesperson for the £750 million project said the studio, if approved, would “strengthen the long-term foundations” for the global film and entertainment industry, in which the UK “needs to maintain its leading position in preparation for the next half-century of British filmmaking”.

However, vocal local voices including Tory MP Joy Morrissey and the Save Marlow’s Greenbelt group are of another view – with campaigner Sam Kershaw accusing the developers of “misleading” the government about the significance of the project through “PR and lobbying activities”.

Buckinghamshire Council also warned that ‘calling in’ the decision at the highest national level risked overshadowing local impact and opinion – and pledged to “robustly defend” its opposition to the plans.