Sunderland Crown Works Studios petition pushes 2,000 names

The man behind a petition urging the Government to back plans for a massive new movie and TV studio in Sunderland says he has been overwhelmed with the response.

FulwellCain Studios is a joint venture between investment company Cain International and Sunderland Til I Die producers Fulwell73 which aims to create a new studio on the former Groves Cranes site.

Crown Works Studios would be one of the largest filmmaking complexes in Europe and is expected to create some 8,450 jobs across the North East over the next decade.  

But the firm had made clear it will need Government support to make the plans a reality

Seaham man Tony Gardener set up a petition on website change.org calling on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to back the proposals.

The petition went live on Monday and within 24 hours had attracted more than its initial target of 500 signatures.

Since the Echo highlighted the campaign on Wednesday, it has reached almost 1,900 names.

Fulwell73 co-founder Leo Pearlman took to social media to express his gratitude, writing on Linked In: "Wow! Thank you to Tony Gardner, Sunderland Echo and everyone that’s already signed this petition, your support is so important to the success of Crown Works Studios. "Let's all work together to bring about real and meaningful regenerative change for the region we all love so much. "Let's look back with pride in the years to come at the opportunities we created for the wider North East community and for the next generation of young creatives, who dream of not having to leave home to pursue their ambition. "Let's give the UK's creative industry the boost it needs by delivering a major production hub, that’ll be the envy of all of Europe."

Tony has been delighted with the success of the petition and Leo's support: "It is going brilliantly," he said.

"We have got all these signatures and now Leo Pearlman has promoted it too - he seems really happy with what we are doing."

FulwellCain have been keen to emphasise the benefits of the plan to the entre North east and Tony has seen that reflected in the comments on the petition.

"I made a word cloud which shows the words that are most being used," he said.

"The biggest word is 'Sunderland' and another big one is 'city', then there's 'jobs', 'investment', 'needs', 'future', 'area' and 'economy', as well as 'North East' and 'region'."