Birmingham could be in line to host Hollywood’s finest after a major British film production company saw its plans for expansion denied.
Pinewood Shepperton Plc, which has been used to make more than 20 James Bond films, The Da Vinci Code, The Dark Knight and Mission Impossible, had its application for 20 new copycat sets at its Iver Heath site in Buckinghamshire, rejected again by council planners.
This latest refusal has prompted figureheads in the movie making business, pressure groups and Midland MPs to propose the former MG Rover works at Longbridge as a possible site for the £200 million development.
If approved, it would pave the way for the construction of carbon-copy versions of popular film locations like New York, San Francisco, Venice and Paris.
It would also see the world’s most famous actors staying on location in the Second City, would create thousands of jobs and bring millions into the region.
Gisela Stuart MP (Lab, Edgbaston) believes the Midlands could be the new Hollywood and says the massive plot at Longbridge would be ideal.
She said: “It’s the perfect site and infrastructure in terms of labour force, artistry and geography.
“They need 100 acres, we’ve got 400 and on a site in need of redevelopment. This is something Longbridge has been waiting for.”
Alan Grindley, chief executive of Birmingham TV station City TV Birmingham, said the Longbridge idea was already creating ‘a buzz in the industry’ and had already pricked the ears of influential American film maker 20th Century Fox.
He said: “It makes sense we create a new Pinewood at Longbridge. The skilled craftsmen of the region would be ideally suited to work at a Film Studio complex.
“Pinewood has over 40 sound stages and ten digital TV studios. Many hundreds of new jobs for our talented workforce would be created. A film studio the size of Pinewood would be a massive boost to the city.”
