The leader of Hertsmere Borough Council has responded to reports in the national media of the potential sale of BBC Elstree Centre – the Hertfordshire studios where EastEnders is made.

The BBC is reportedly looking to sell the site, and lease back the EastEnders set, to cut production costs.

Councillor Morris Bright MBE says that BBC Elstree must stay as a hub for media production and skills training. The site has previously been home to Holby City and Grange Hill.

“The news that the BBC is looking to dispose of its BBC Elstree site is not new, just further progressed, and what we now know is that the Corporation is open to suggestions and offers as to what that ‘sale’ might look like," said Cllr Bright.

“I consider that at a time when there is a clambering in the industry for more sound stages with studios going up fast across the country and especially in Hertfordshire, where BBC Elstree is based, it would be perverse to consider selling a brownfield site off for development.

"This would see the loss of sound stages when proposals elsewhere are coming for new studios and stages on greenfield sites."

As well as the BBC Elstree studios where long-running soap EastEnders is filmed, Hertsmere is also home to the nearby Elstree Film Studios and the new state-of-the-art Sky Studios Elstree complex.

BBC Studioworks, a commercial subsidiary of the BBC providing studios and post-production services, has extended its lease at Elstree Studios where Strictly Come Dancing is filmed.

Cllr Bright added: “Hertsmere Borough Council will seek like-minded partners from the television and film industry to join hands with us and the BBC to ensure that the site – the first and longest surviving studios in Borehamwood, dating back over 100 years, remains as a place of media production.

“We will be speaking with the BBC and offering to work with them to find a solution that works for the BBC, the industry and our towns, residents, local employment and businesses and that protects our proud local heritage.”

Earlier this year, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visited the EastEnders set to film cameos for a special Queen's Platinum Jubilee episode.

Elsewhere in Hertfordshire, plans are progressing for Hollywood's Sunset Studios to create a new TV, film and digital production facility at Waltham Cross at a site just off the M25 at Junction 25.