Campaigners welcome Minister’s decision on Green Belt studios

Countryside protection campaigners are celebrating victory over developers who wanted to build film studios on Green Belt land in Holyport.

The Berkshire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has welcomed today’s (6 June) decision by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) regarding the development scheme by Greystoke Land.

Greystoke’s application was rejected by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead (RBWM) followed a strong campaign by local residents, Parish Councils, community representatives and environmental campaigners.

CPRE Berkshire has branded the Greystoke scheme “unsustainable and unwanted” and has argued that it represents inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

Greystoke appealed against RBWM’s rejection of its outline planning application, but the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has dismissed the appeal.

The Secretary of State concluded that the site is “not in a sustainable location”, that there is “no demonstrable unmet need for the proposal”, and that if the scheme went ahead there would be “harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, harm to openness and harm to purpose”.

The Appeal decision also emphasises that the proposal does not conform to the borough’s Local Plan.

CPRE Berkshire said: “This is a landmark decision by the Government and we are delighted with the ruling. It is clear now that developers cannot simply grab Green Belt countryside for speculative developments of this kind.

“There have been far too many planning applications like this in our Green Belt and CPRE hopes that the Secretary of State’s decision will strengthen local councils’ resistance to such schemes, and dissuade developers from putting forward unnecessary and unsustainable plans to build on our local countryside.”

CPRE was formed in 1926 and the Berkshire Branch was one of the first local groups to be established. The charity will be celebrating its centenary in 2026 with a series of events including a special exhibition at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) in Reading.

For more information on CPRE’s campaigns to protect Berkshire’s countryside, go to

-ENDS