The firm behind an eight-stage film studio near High Wycombe is planning to build on-site data centres to safeguard against ‘uncertain’ market conditions.

Plans to build seven additional soundstages, rehearsal buildings and associated facilities on land to the south of Wycombe Air Park were submitted by the Stage Fifty group in 2022 and given the green light by Buckinghamshire Council last spring.

The project was stymied by Stage Fifty’s collapse this April, however, accelerated by “cashflow problems” at nearby Winnersh Studios, reportedly caused by the US writer and actor strikes.

Wycombe Film Studios was taken over by a newly formed eponymous enterprise under parent company SCIO Capital – and it seems the change of hands has done more than set the construction of new soundstages on the backfoot.

According to leaflets given to neighbours of the development site this week, Wycombe Film Studios is seeking feedback on plans to build at least one data centre on land near the air park as well as continuing to seek full permission for the film and TV production complex.

An outline of the plans cites “current substantial market demand” for data centre developments – which have benefited from the Labour government’s recent planning reforms – as well as “uncertain market conditions for new studio space” for the as-yet theoretical move.

Part of the studio’s appeal to Buckinghamshire Council during initial consideration was the site’s location on M40-adjacent land allocated as an employment area in the Wycombe district’s 2019 local plan – and developers are hoping to capitalise on that designation to support their data centre plans.

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Planning permission for the full eight-stage studio is pending a section 106 legal agreement, due to be signed this year.

The leaflet also laid out Wycombe Film Studios’ plans to “seek the views of local residents and businesses” before formally submitting the data centres application.

It reassured neighbours then that a revised site layout would be “sympathetic” to the existing application and “considerate” of bordering landscape and nearby housing, with vehicle access broadly the same as for the studio plans.

After Wycombe Film Studios was greenlit under Stage Fifty in March 2023, council leader Martin Tett enthusiastically praised it as a “state-of-the-art hub of creativity” and “catalyst for economic growth in the area”.

But this latest move comes after a surge of concern following the sudden closure of world-famous Pinewood Studios’ TV production unit earlier this month – prompting speculation that the UK film industry was taking a nosedive.

The home of blockbusters including James Bond and Star Wars seemingly silenced such debate, however, by announcing a new independent films hub to coincide with the closure of its television arm – with culture secretary Lisa Nandy helping to announce the news alongside new tax relief for UK filmmakers.