Lights, camera, action as film studio plan set to be submitted

Bold proposal to transform derelict railway works discussed at consultation

Films could be made in Ashford by the end of 2021 - with a planning application for the Newtown railway works scheme set to be submitted next week.

A detailed plan for the Quinn Estates project was unveiled when the prolific development company held a public consultation at the Ashford Rail Club last Wednesday.

Two or three universities are expected to move onto the site, training students in filmmaking techniques while giving them on-set experience.

Entertainment giants including Netflix, Amazon and HBO could fill the studios, which will sit alongside 300 new homes, a hotel and workshops.

Alongside the four 1,860 sq m studios, the new homes will be introduced into the train sheds - buildings which have lain largely unused since 1972.

The public consultation was attended by a number of interested residents.

Beaver Lane resident Keith Wells, who once had a job at the works, said: “I’m very pleased they’re using a brownfield site and not covering more green land in concrete.

“I really hope they make the houses actually affordable, or at least set affordable rent prices, so that people on minimum wage can move in.”

One of the main sticking points among residents is access onto the site, with many saying Newtown Road won’t be able to cope with increased congestion or use by big vehicles.

Howard Green, who lives close to the town centre, said: “The only thing I’d be interested in finding out more about is getting in and out of the place.

“Why don’t they improve on the access road to the site and put in a roundabout around the clocktower?

“You’ve got that humpback bridge on one end and the railway bridge on the other, so you definitely have constraints.

“The rest of it they can do what they like with. Anything’s an improvement on what it is now.”

As part of the scheme, new traffic lights will be installed at the current access road to the site and a similar signalling system will be built on the humpback bridge.

Larger goods vehicles will be able to use a new road, set to be constructed further up Newtown Road.

■ Email kentishexpress@ thekmgroup.co.uk

An updated CGI shows how the Newtown works could look, including the four studios

Residents have raised fears over access to the site, which has sat derelict for decades

Resident Howard Green

Quinn Estates MD Huw Evans