Sunderland Crown Works Studios funding setback: empty promise fears & demand for answers over troubled scheme

The vision for the vast £450 million Crown Works Studios was originally led by FulwellCain, a joint venture between global entertainment company Fulwell 73 and Cain International, who had hoped to build 19 sound stages at the riverside site and create thousands of jobs.

Preparatory works on land next to the Northern Spire Bridge are already under way, paid for through public money, but building work on the flagship studios development has yet to begin.

In an announcement on Monday (June 30), it was confirmed Sunderland City Council and the North East Combined Authority (NECA) are looking for fresh investment for Crown Works Studios after its initial backers, financiers Cain International, withdrew.

Sunderland City Council said Fulwell Entertainment “remains a committed champion of the scheme”, but that the proposals were now “being presented to the investment market, with the aim to put in place a final funder and developer later this year”.

Councillor Michael Mordey, Labour leader of Sunderland City Council, stressed there was an "absolute commitment to secure the best possible delivery partner to move this forward."

However, the leaders of Sunderland City Council's main opposition parties have reacted to the news with concern and say questions need to be answered on the challenges and obstacles the scheme has faced.

Councillor Paul Edgeworth, leader of the Wearside Liberal Democrats, said Labour figures at a local, regional and national level, need to make Crown Works Studios a "top priority" to ensure it "gets off the ground".

"We all want to see investment and jobs in Sunderland, but local people will not forgive Labour bosses if this turns out to be yet another empty promise and £millions of public money down the drain," he said.

"Labour have been quick to claim all the credit for this project; it remains to be seen whether they will now take responsibility for dealing with challenges and obstacles like this.

"Labour have every lever at their disposal to make sure this project is a success.

"Sunderland City Council, the regional mayor and the government must now make it their top priority to make sure this development gets off the ground.

"Regional Labour bosses must also come clean about whether this disastrous government's anti-business policies have had any part to play on Cain International pulling out of the project."

Councillor Antony Mullen, leader of the Sunderland Conservatives, added it is important that previous promises made on the Crown Works Studios are kept.

“When I initially raised scepticism about this project, I was criticised by Labour for not talking up the city," he said.

"Now we are in a position where the flagship policy of this council is in doubt.

"Rachel Reeves and Kim McGuinness both took the credit for the funding of the previous government and they were keen to claim they had secured it, despite it not being under threat at that time.

"Now it is - and they need to do exactly that to ensure this promise, made by them, is kept.

"I have been asking questions in council about the progress of this development and we were assured everything was on track, clearly it was not.

"Labour has questions to answer about how it intends to manage this issue."

Planning permission for the Crown Works Studios development was secured last year (2024), but detailed approval has only been granted for phase one of the project that would include four sound stages, production offices, workshop buildings, and a multi-storey car park.

The Government has provided an initial £25m cash injection, via the devolution deal which established the North East mayor, while Sunderland City Council and the North East mayoral authority have committed to ultimately invest up to £120m.

A specialist agent is being appointed by the council to engage with investors, which the authority said would still include the likes of Fulwell Entertainment – who were behind the Sunderland ‘Til I Die Netflix series.

North East mayor Kim McGuinness said the North East mayoral authority was "supporting Sunderland City Council in the job of preparing the site, which can eventually be the largest film and TV production complex in the UK outside of London and the South East", creating thousands of new jobs for local people.

The regional Labour mayor noted that "the project has to date secured a public sector funding package worth £120m including £25m which we have put in to begin preparation of the site" and that "we remain confident that this will be a flagship site in a thriving industry for years to come.”

Former Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Wearside in March, 2024, when Mr Hunt described the Crown Works Studios as “totally and utterly transformational” for the city and the wider region.

Current chancellor Rachel Reeves later confirmed the £25m funding in her Budget last October and Crown Works was also recently named by the Government as a key area of the North East’s economic growth, as Labour announced its new national industrial strategy.

Funding to prepare the site for development was approved by Sunderland City Council's ruling Labour cabinet back at a meeting on July 18, 2024, following a funding application to NECA.

This included a £25million grant to “prepare and enable the site for its future redevelopment, laying the ground for development of the studio facilities, and progressing the design of the proposed film studio development through the technical design […] to further de-risk the project."

Cllr Mordey previously said enabling works were “the critical first step to prepare and enable the site and create a development platform to support the future delivery of a major strategic economic development and generate significant new employment opportunities for the city and wider region."

Speaking this week on the Crown Works Studios site, the council leader added: "There’s an absolute commitment to secure the best possible delivery partner to move this forward.

"We expect that we will have funding confirmed and be ready to progress the first phase of the studios by the time remediation works complete later this year."

A spokesperson for Fulwell Entertainment, in a statement this week, said they "remain committed to working with the council to find appropriate private funding, complementing the combined NE Authority and wider government funding needed to make these world class production studios a reality.”

Cain International have also previously been contacted for comment by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.