The £5.76m facility at St Agnes, Cornwall, will contain state-of-the-art equipment for film and television production.

The complex will house two covered sound stages for indoor filming work.

It will also contain pre-production, production and post-production facilities.

The project received £2 million from European development funds, while the rest of the money came from the private sector.

Rowan Atkinson's Johnny English was filmed at St Michael's Mount

South-west England is one of the UK's most popular location for film-making, but has never before had a studio of its own.

Scenes from the latest James Bond film, Die Another Day, were shot at the Eden Project and the North Cornwall coast.

Johnny English, which starred Rowan Atkinson, used St Michael's Mount as a location.

UK-made

British Film Commission head Steve Norris said: "We aim to ensure that any film that can be made in the UK is made in the UK, and that the necessary infrastructure is in place to support it.

"The fantastic development of this new studio in the south west of England brings us one step closer to making this aim a reality."

Work on the new film studio complex is expected to last 14 months.

Matthew Taylor, Liberal Democrat MP for Truro and St Austell, will mark the start of construction at a groundbreaking ceremony on the former leisure park and model village site in St Agnes.