Council leader says football stadium on Peterborough Embankment is a 'no no' as master plan for 'green lung of the city' is revealed
The leader of Peterborough City Council has said the idea of putting a football stadium on the Embankment is a ‘no no’ – as a new plan for how the green space might be laid out has been revealed.
Significant development has been proposed on the Embankment – with works currently being carried out to built the controversial Cygnet Bridge, linking the green space to Fletton Quays.
Work is also ongoing with plans to build a new leisure centre, to replace the old Regional Pool building, which is proposed to be built on The Embankment.
The developments have led some people to raise concerns about the loss of the green space in Peterborough – especially following proposals in the past to build a football and entertainment stadium on the land.
But at a meeting of Peterborough City Council’s cabinet on Tuesday (July 21), council leader cllr Shabina Qayyum said the idea of building a football stadium there was a ‘no no’ – as new plans showing how the Embankment would house the new developments was revealed publicly for the first time.
Speaking about the proposals for the Youth Zone, she said: “We have organisations like 'Save the Embankment' who quite rightly talk about the Embankment being the green lung of the city. I hope that it can be acknowledged that we are talking about sensitive development, that leads to a thriving, bustling Embankment area, that is in use throughout the year.
“We can see there is significant space for all the other events that we have throughout the year - we have the Beer Festival, the circus that comes, and so many other recreational activities.
“We do know there has been talk about putting a great big arena, football arena on the embankment - that for us is a no no.”
Cllr Mohammed Jamil Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Governance, said of the new plans: “We are not losing the Embankment – we are enhancing the Embankment experience.”
Chris Pike, principal development surveyor for the Youth Zone project added: “It is really important to recognise and understand that although we are looking at delivering the Youth Zone on the Embankment, there is still a lot of space, I think in the region of about 62 acres of public open space, and we are probably going to take about an acre of that with the Youth Zone.”
Councillor Ann Shaheed, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Homelessness and Poverty, also spoke about the need for transport links to enable to get to the Embankment, once the new facilities are completed.
Mr Pike said: “Children tend to travel about 5 miles to get to the Youth Zone (at hubs elsewhere in the country), and There are some people who travel up to 20 miles. The data does show they come from far and wide to use the facility.
“Enhancing bus services will be fundamental to this. We'll have to promote active travel., and a selection of parents who will drop and pick their children up.”