Valleywood studio is £15m in red

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The troubled Valleywood film studios owes £15m to creditors and may have to sell off land, it has emerged.

But administrator Rob Lewis, who was appointed last Friday, said he is confident construction at the studios near Bridgend, will be completed.

A sound stage at the studios, dubbed Valleywood, is due to be completed next month.

Dragon International Studios and Westair Properties Ltd, both of which are in administration, own the site.

Speaking on BBC Wales Dragon's Eye, Mr Lewis, who was appointed by the court, said there are 20 creditors who are owed around £15m.

He said: "Clearly there have been delays in getting the project off the ground.

"One of the reasons that the company is in administration is that the income that the site was proposing to generate has not come through as quickly as expected.

"If all goes according to plan - and I have no reason to doubt this - the first of those studios will be available for occupation by the end of April."

Interest shown

He added: "There are 60,000 square feet of very high quality film studios that are nearly complete, there are certainly people showing an interest in terms of taking occupation of them."

He said he will adopt a flexible approach and will look at all the options - such as the selling-off of land which had been envisaged previously - before meeting creditors.

Earlier this week Llanharan Councillor Geraint Hopkins said he was "disappointed" by the news that the studios had been placed into administration.

He said: "Quite a lot of work has already been done, a number of the silent stages have been built and it's a shame now if the project is in jeopardy because of some difficulties.

"But I do remain positive for the site," Mr Hopkins added. "I would still like to hope the project can be saved."