WATCH: MP speaks out against 2,500 homes in Peterborough countryside in new campaign video

Castor, Ailsworth and Upton residents gather at the proposed development site 200meteres from Castor Hanglands EMN-170215-161941009

The North West Cambridgeshire MP warned that green space north of Castor and Ailsworth would be lost forever if development was allowed to take place.

The land, which is owned by the Government agency the HCA (Homes and Communities Agency), could eventually hold 5,000 homes.

On a visit to the site Mr Vara, a vocal critic of the proposed development, told the Protect Rural Peterborough (PRP) campaign group: “The reality is we’re talking of up to 5,000 homes or possibly more. And that sort of figure is simply just unacceptable.

Protect Rural Peterborough campaigners: Elizabeth Chillcott, Brian Gibson, Angela Scott, Jo Morris and Tracey Blackmore. EMN-170731-172609009

“This is beautiful countryside and it has been like this for centuries and we’d like to keep it that way.”

Mr Vara asked the HCA and council “do you really want to destroy this?”, adding: “Once it’s gone, then it’s gone forever.”

Volunteers at PRP have spent countless hours pouring over documents and researching planning policy, while also voicing its opposition through social media, as it continues to fight the proposed ‘township’ which it claims will threaten important historical sites and wildlife such as the Castor Hanglands nature reserve.

The allocation of 2,500 homes, as well as a new country park, employment land and a cemetery, on the site were in a draft Local Plan for Peterborough.

The plan addresses housing need in the city up until 2036, and a final draft will be revealed next month which will also include a proposed campus site for the new University of Peterborough.

Council leader, and member for Castor, Cllr John Holdich, has previously labelled the plans “environmental vandalism.”

Council leader dubs home plan ‘vandalism’

Campaign forms against new ‘township’ proposed by Peterborough City Council