Councillors to be urged to overturn refusal decision for 650 homes on East of England Showground

A council appeals committee is being urged to overturn a decision to reject plans to build 650 homes on the East of England Showground.

Members of Peterborough City Council’s appeals and planning review committee will be advised by officers to throw out the decision by the authority’s planning committee on October 15 to refuse approval for the homes on part of the 165 acre Showground venue.

The appeals committee will meet on January 13 after four councillors used council procedures to ‘call-in’ the refusal decision claiming it lacked proper planning reasons, was based on outdated policies and figures and did not consider the benefits of development.

In a report to be presented to the appeals committee, officers state that while the 650 homes plans are ‘not in accordance’ with some sections of the council’s Local Plan policies due to the loss of the Showground, including the speedway track, there are considerations which weigh in favour of the proposal.

These include plans to deal with highway issues, a significant contribution to meeting housing need as well as the fact that there are ‘limited future prospects’ for the traditional use of the Showground and speedway

The outline planning application for the 650 homes was submitted by land promoter AEPG and would have used the site that had been home to Peterborough Panthers championship winning speedway team for more than 50 years.

The plans were refused because a majority of the planning committee felt the application involved too many houses and that ensuring loss of the Showground and speedway was too much especially with nothing in the plans to replace them.

The same committee meeting had also approved AEPG’s outline planning application to build 850 homes plus a leisure village, school, hotel and care village on part of the Showground adjoining the 650 homes site.

Local councillors have issued a plea to residents living near the Showground, many of whom object to the proposals, to attend the appeals meeting to ensure their views are heard.

Councillor Julie Stevenson, who is opposed to moves to overturn the refusal decision, said: “We don’t think it’s okay that councillors who do not represent our area are trying to overturn the planning committee’s decision.”