The film studios behind Wonder Woman 1984, House of the Dragon and Harry Potter are one step closer to expansion.

The development site spans 51.78 hectares of the former Leavesden Airfield, next to the existing studios and The Making of Harry Potter tourist attraction.

Warner Bros' masterplan features 11 new permanent "sound stages", four office buildings, three new workshops, a new amenity building, a support lighting facility, a multi-storey car park with 2,500 spaces and a new roundabout to intercept site traffic arriving from the surrounding M25 and A41 roads.

Along with the Lower Field for the public, studio teams would be able to use a second area for filming.

The infrastructure investment of £250m will feature 186 new trees, 19,519 square metres of new woodland planting and a shuttle bus for local workers.

The government can choose whether it wants to rule on the planning application.

If it chooses to hand the case back to Three Rivers District Council to rule, committee members have agreed their staff should grant planning permission.

Around 10 per cent of the site falls in the Watford Borough Council area, where a decision is expected on or around January 12, 2023.

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Amid fears expanding the Warner Bros Studios Leavesden would harm the green belt, Three Rivers District Council's planning committee has approved the firm's site "masterplan".

The US film giant asked the council for permission to build new soundproof stage buildings, workshops and production offices which will support a rise in the demand for high-quality TV series.

At a meeting on Thursday, December 15, planning committee members voted to ask the government to give Warner Bros the final sign-off – something which the authority must do to satisfy national green belt rules, owing to the scale of the project.

If the full masterplan goes ahead, Warner Bros hopes to create 1,625 full-time "high-wage, high-skill" jobs in the Watford area and add £85.7million to the local economy by 2027.

Emily Stillman, the studios' senior vice president, told the committee her company must adapt to her industry's changing needs.

She said: "There is now a huge demand for high-quality TV shows as well as film.

"This is a major change in our industry."

Ms Stillman added the company would set aside an 8.3-hectare green space known as Lower Field, which the public could use.

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"This is not just about the economy." she said.