Senior British film industry figures fear time is running out for a major new £200m film studio complex outside Edinburgh.
Developers this weekend urged Scottish ministers to say when a final decision will be made on the development near Straiton in the Pentlands.
In a separate development, the chairman of the British Film Commission, Glasgow-born Iain Smith, said he was "puzzled" about how long it had taken to get the scheme off the ground.
Mr Smith told the Sunday Times: "One of our roles is to bring film to the UK. We need to expand capacity. It is a parlous situation for Scotland which will not attract the big productions. In this case something has gone wrong somewhere in the political sphere. It's either incompetence or one of those political puzzlements. I hope it's not incompetence."
Another Scottish figure, producer Tommy Gormley, said Scotland had been "catastrophically left behind" by Wales and Northern Ireland.
One investors last week threatened to pull out. As the Sunday Herald reported on Sunday. developers have pleaded with the Scottish Government to speed up its response.
The planning application for the privately-backed development, with six sound stages and a water stage was ‘called n’ by ministers last year, after a decision was delayed by Midlothian Council. A report on the planning reporter’s recommendations was received by ministers before Christmas. The proposal has been going through the formal planning process since September 2014.
There have long been calls for a dedicated film studio north of the border, with fears the industry is missing out on a boom in filming.
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