Amazon's studios plan should be approved - council

Amazon MGM Studios' major revamp of Bray Film Studios should get the go-ahead next week, a council's planning officers have said.

The historic Water Oakley site was previously home to the iconic horror studio Hammer Films and used for the filming of movies including The Mummy and The Curse of Frankenstein.

Amazon has used the studios since 2022 and said its current proposals, which include building a multi-storey car park and six new sound stages, would help "realise the site's full potential".

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead planning officers said the project should be given permission at a meeting on 22 October.

The studios were also used for The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Alien, but the volume of production started to decline in the 1990s and 2000s and the site was nearly converted into housing.

In 2022, the Burke family, who previously owned the studios, got the go-ahead from the Royal Borough to revamp the site.

Two years later Amazon bought it to film some of its biggest shows. It has been used for the Lord of the Rings spin-off The Rings of Power and the second series of Citadel.

Plans for the redevelopment promise to bring forward a "world-class studio blending function and desirability" and Amazon wants to be able to film two productions at the same time there.

The plans include refurbishing the Grade II listed Down Place House and using it as a main production office.

A shuttle bus service is also proposed for production teams between the complex and Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton Riverside and Windsor and Eton Central train stations.