The campaign to save Twickenham Film Studios has taken a severe knock after Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, refused to intervene in the planned sell-off of the site.

The production complex's closure was announced last month when the company owning it went into administration after losing £400,000 in 2010-11.

In an statement to the Guardian, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said: "While the closure will be a loss to the film industry, this is a commercial decision made by a private company, and the government has no remit to intervene."

Gerald Krasner, the administrator handling the closure, said at the time: "I doubt it will be retained as a film studio … we are selling it on." It later emerged that building firm Taylor Wimpey was in discussions to acquire the site and redevelop it as a "mixed-use scheme".

Daniel Cormack, organiser of the Save Twickenham Film Studios campaign, said: "There is massive local opposition and uproar in the film industry that yet another integral part of our cultural heritage could be sold to developers." An online petition has attracted over 2,600 signatures.

Cormack's request to meet with Jeremy Hunt is "currently being considered", according to the DCMS.

Twickenham Film Studios was originally built in 1913 and over the decades many classic films have been made there, including The Italian Job, Repulsion, Let It Be, Blade Runner and An American Werewolf in London. Recent productions to have used the facility include The Iron Lady and My Week with Marilyn.