Enfield Council has approved a settlement to end the Troubadour film studios lease at Meridian Water. The financial terms are exempt from publication.

Enfield Council is unwinding its flagship film studios deal at Meridian Water. A settlement agreement to end the Troubadour studios lease was approved on 11 September, and the council’s own report concedes that “the creative economy has not grown in the way anticipated”.

The financial terms are exempt from publication. They sit in a confidential appendix, withheld under the Local Government Act’s exemption for information about a person’s business affairs, so residents cannot see what ending the lease will cost.

The decision, KD 5987, was taken by the Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, Councillor Michael Rye. It is a key decision, and other councillors can call it in for scrutiny until 18 September. If nobody does, it takes effect on 19 September. No call-in had been recorded when we checked on 15 September.

What was promised in 2020

The studios were the borough’s big creative-economy bet. The decision report sets out the history:

  • The council bought the Stonehill site in Upper Edmonton from HSBC Pensions in 2017, as part of assembling land for Meridian Water’s 10,000 homes.
  • The southern 6.08 acres went to market in mid-2019 on a 12-year lease basis, as a temporary “meanwhile” use while the land awaited remediation and a change of use through the Local Plan.
  • A 2020 key decision, KD 5163, approved a lease to Troubadour Theatres to deliver the Meridian Water Film Studios over a 15-year period.
  • The scheme was meant to make the site “a major centre for film and television production”, with a public theatre venue, a training academy, and a media and arts hub alongside.

The first phase was real. The council’s own Meridian Water site records that three studios totalling 65,000 square feet were completed in 2021, with 35 to 50 jobs in phase 1. The second phase was to double the studio space and deliver the promised Media Skills Academy and theatre, with 150 to 450 jobs. That phase never came.

Timeline: 2017 site purchase, 2019 marketing, 2020 lease decision, 2021 phase 1 opens with three studios totalling 65,000 square feet, 11 September 2026 settlement approved with terms exempt from publication, 19 September 2026 decision takes effect unless called in.
Six years from land purchase to settlement. The second phase, with the theatre and skills academy, was never built.
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Why the council is unwinding it

The report is unusually blunt for a council document. The occupation “no longer aligns with the Council’s strategic direction for Meridian Water”, it says, and the settlement is “a necessary route to obtaining vacant possession”.

The trigger is a revised delivery strategy for the northern Meridian Water sites, which the report says “changes the direction agreed a decade ago” and is still subject to further Cabinet approval. To pursue it, the council needs its meanwhile tenants out.

The decision also delegates authority to finalise the settlement with Meridian Water Film Studios Limited, and to “dispose of Stages 2 and 3” for values that are, again, set out only in the exempt appendix. Once the site is handed back, the report says security arrangements will be put in place, with “an indicative budget” set aside for that too.

What it means for you

  • If you live in Edmonton: the decision covers the Stonehill site off Harbert Road N18, in the report’s words affecting Upper Edmonton, Lower Edmonton, Edmonton Green and Haselbury wards. It clears the way for the revised plan for the northern Meridian Water sites, which Cabinet has yet to approve in final form. The 10,000-home target is restated in the report.
  • If you work in or with the studios: the settlement ends the occupation under the existing lease. The report does not give a leaving date; that will be fixed in the agreement itself.
  • If you care where the money goes: the cost of the settlement, the value of the stage disposals and the security budget are all in the exempt appendix. The public record shows the decision, not the price.

The decision can be called in for scrutiny until 18 September. Watch the council’s decision page for any change, and our Enfield planning news page for what the revised Meridian Water strategy contains when it reaches Cabinet.

Sources