One of the most closely watched recovered appeals in England has concluded with planning permission granted for the £750m Marlow Film Studios development in Buckinghamshire. The Secretary of State has overridden the local council’s refusal, allowing a major creative industries scheme on Green Belt land near the A4155 west of London.

The studio complex will deliver around 470,000 sq ft of soundstages and production space across roughly 56 acres of a former quarry and landfill site, supported by training and skills facilities. The project has attracted high-profile backers from the film industry and is expected to create thousands of jobs and significant supply-chain benefits.

In his decision, the Secretary of State accepted that the scheme would cause significant adverse impacts on local landscape character and views, including effects on the Thames Valley and Chilterns National Landscape. However, he concluded that the economic benefits, skills investment and contribution to the UK’s global film hub justified “very substantial weight” in favour of the proposal, clearly outweighing Green Belt and landscape harm.

The appeal also highlights a more assertive central-government approach to large, investment-driven schemes. Marlow became a test case for the government’s commitment to “overhaul a sclerotic planning system” and support high-value sectors through recovered appeals and call-ins where local decisions are seen as blocking nationally important growth.

For applicants promoting major employment or film-studio projects in England’s Green Belt, this decision will be closely mined as a precedent. It underlines the importance of a robust economic case, clear alignment with national industrial strategy and credible mitigation for landscape and environmental impacts. For objectors and councils, it is a reminder that Green Belt protection is not absolute where substantial national benefits can be demonstrated.