http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/whereilive/localheadlines/4683692.Birmingham_could__hijack__Pinewood_Studios_expansion/

Birmingham could “hijack” Pinewood Studios expansion

10:22am Thursday 15th October 2009

BIRMINGHAM is reportedly waiting in the wings should Pinewood Studios’ controversial expansion plan fall through.

Campaigners say the “greatest hijack in movie history” is gathering pace in the Midlands, which could urge the world famous studios to look beyond Buckinghamshire.

The historic sets at Pinewood have been used to film more than 20 James Bond adventures, and dozens of Hollywood blockbusters such as The Da Vinci Code, The Dark Knight and Mission: Impossible.

A huge demonstration is expected when South Bucks District Council (SBDC) meet on October 21 to discuss the plans for the £200 million development on Green Belt land in Iver Heath.

The plan would see copycat versions of often-used film locations like New York and Paris built alongside 1,400 homes.

Pressure group Save the British Film Industry believes the plans are “visionary”, but says it should go ahead in the West Midlands – where it is “both needed and most wanted”.

Jonathan Stuart-Brown has written to SBDC about the plan and writes on Save the British Film Industry’s website: “The South Bucks locals do not want it as it will destroy untouchable greenbelt land. They are organised and even have a fast growing online petition to Number Ten.

“All three of the committees on The Stop Project Pinewood nimby groups just do not want Venice, Paris, Amsterdam, Lake Como near them.

“They expressly do not want ever more Hollywood stars and even rich tourists and theme park visitors on their doorstep.

“They are happy for it all to come up to our urban sprawl in Birmingham and Black Country.”

The campaign has already won support from two Birmingham politicians, Northfield MP Richard Burden and Gisela Stuart, Labour MP for Edgbaston.

The site that has been earmarked is a former MG Rover works at Longbridge.

The Group Director for Corporate Affairs at Pinewood, Andrew Smith, said the proposal was unrealistic.

He said: “The British film industry is already established in the South-East.

“It would be unworkable to move half of the studios up to the Midlands, or to move the whole lot because the infrastructure is all already in place here (in the South-East).”

Should the SBDC planning committee refuse the plan, Pinewood could lodge an appeal, which would put the decision in the hands of the Planning Inspectorate, a national independent body that rules on appeals.

So far the application process has cost Pinewood Shepperton PLC more than £4m, while the company’s profits fell 55 per cent to £1.7m in the first half of the year.

The film studios said a battle between US studios and the Screen Actors Guild hit film sales, with projects caught in a logjam, although the dispute had now ended.

The studios were built in 1934 and over the decades it has been at the centre of the British film industry.

……………………………………………

SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY REPLY: 

The Group Director for Corporate Affairs at Pinewood, Andrew Smith, said the proposal was “unrealistic”.

Funnily enough that was the attitude people had to the founders of the original Hollywood Film Studios in a desert no-one wanted nor liked living in. Amazingly it worked out extremely well for film-making. People in New York thought it was insane as the film-making was then established in New York and who could ever turn that inhospitable desert into a commercial film-making triumph employing millions of people over the years. Incidentally LONGBRIDGE is about a mile from Hollywood. Perhaps Mr Smith could google a map to see for himself. Birmingham has in STAR CITY the biggest cinema in The UK. The youngest population in The UK.

Mr Smith said: “The British film industry is already established in the South-East”.
Well much longer established businesses relocate to different countries or expand into new territories every week. If the finances add up, you consider all options. The West Midlands is only seeking the expansion part of Pinewood Studios if it is up for grabs after the locals in South Bucks decide whether they want or do not want this expansion.

Also this comment,

“It would be unworkable to move half of the studios up to the Midlands, or to move the whole lot because the infrastructure is all already in place here (in the South-East).”

does not add up given that Pinewood Shepperton PLC is according to The Sunday Telegraph considering moving half the studios to China, Malaysia and transfering more and more work to Canada. Of course the land is much much cheaper there than in Iver Heath. 

For those unfamiliar with Iver Heath and Fulmer, it is a very small friendly village area where people actually talk to each other freely and openly. They smile and chat. Even without a few drinks in The Black Horse pub, they let each other know what is going on. The workers and family members in Pinewood Studios are in the know and so is everyone in the area. After a few drinks in the Black Horse, well everyone knows everything.  The driving force for this planning application on this one piece of land is not British film-making but a huge quick property deal. The real film-making jobs are being lined up outside The UK in the mid and longterm. The Government is being lobbied hard to behave like morons in a hurry and accelerate the exit of British based  film-making jobs from  The UK. 

The very best chance of securing and guaranteeing the film-making jobs in Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, in Shepperton Studios, in Teddington Studios is to expand the UK film and TV manufacturing infrastructure around The UK STARTING IN THE WEST MIDLANDS until there are PINEWOOD STUDIOS branded 15 acre factories and sets every forty miles from Cornwall to Scotland. This secures public funding, public support and public monies for British based film-making. The original foundations In Iver Heath will benefit most. The most secure guarantee of jobs will be there. 
If the locals in South Bucks wish to keep their status quo and the huge volume of Stop Project Pinewood literature in Iver Heath and Fulmer indicates this is their express wish, THEN if the expansion is up for grabs, THEN The West Midlands is ideal. It will be welcomed, cherished, get massive community and business support and also be championed politically viz future public funding. I assume you realise what sums Birmingham Council has in revenue. I assume you know what wealth The Black Country and West Midlands has to throw at regeneration plans such as this expansion. The West Midlands is also a lot nearer to Iver Heath than China, Malaysia and Canada. Longbridge only has about 450 spare acres. Walsall, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Dudley, Coventry, Stoke, Telford  have over 5000 acres in different places begging to be used.  With the  public purse in place to back it and Pinewood planners  looking afresh at the new options, THEN  this is the very best way to match needs, demands, vision, ambition with available resources.

If the locals do not want it, then the West Midlands certainly and enthusiastically does.
All appeals of this nature are  heavily influenced by political lobbying. Pinewood started lobbying a long time ago apparently anticipating this application to fail. So every interested party will lobby if the planning permission is refused at local level. We hope that there will be no sore losers if The West Midlands and the other great regions in The UK prove to be better political and media lobbyists than the very few people determined to force this expansion through thus  destroying greenbelt land, a fabulous local community in South Bucks AND MOREOVER ENSURING NO-ONE OUTSIDE A VERY FEW ELITE PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH-EAST CAN ENTER THIS SOUTH-EAST FILM MAKING MONOPOLY MASQUERADING AS THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY so as to corner ginormous British taxpayer handouts while sending all the real film-making jobs to China, Malaysia and Toronto.

Jonathan Stuart-Brown

www.savethebritishfilmindustry.com