Developers seek support for major warehouse developments along A1 (M) at Peterborough

Ten huge areas of land alongside the A1 (M) at Peterborough are being promoted for major warehouse developments that could create hundreds of jobs.

The sites have been proposed by developers as part of Huntingdonshire District Council’s work to create a new Local Plan that will determine development zones in the area for the next decade.

Among the developers seeking land to be earmarked for employment uses is Newlands Development which last year had submitted a planning application for a 300 acre A1 West development on agricultural land on the northbound side of the A1 junction 17 and adjacent to the A605.

Once fully occupied, it was expected the site would total 4.5 million square feet and could create upwards of 3,000 jobs..

The proposed development had been intended as an addition to the 240 acre Peterborough Gateway business park on the opposite side of the A1 which is home to 14 companies and which is now full.

But the proposals sparked opposition from politicians, including the then North West Cambridgeshire MP Shailesh Vara, who claimed the project was against the Local Plan and would mean extra traffic, more air pollution and harm views of the countryside.

The A1 West application, which it was claimed would boost the local economy by £119 million a year and raise about £7 million annual business rates for Huntingdonshire District Council, was later withdrawn.

John Barker, director at Newlands Developments, told the Peterborough Telegraph in May last year that the plans had been withdrawn while the district council reviewed its Local Plan, which will set out which areas councillors see as suitable for future development.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Barker said: “We are still involved with promoting our development site in the Huntingdon Local Plan.

He said: "There absolutely is still a need for more land for commercial development.”

The district council says that its next round of public consultations will be on its preferred options for the draft local plan which will take place during the autumn/winter 2025.