Countdown for East of England Showground promoter as it takes next steps for leisure and homes development

The clock is ticking for East of England Showground promoter AEPG as it looks to move forward with plans for a 1,500 homes and leisure village development on the 164 acre venue.

Conditions set down by Peterborough City Council state that AEPG now has just six months to complete a section 106 agreement, which is likely to involve a £20 million plus financial contribution to help with housing, education and health care provision.

It must also resolve a number of highways issues.

If AEPG fails to meet the deadline without good reason the approval for its planning applications will be void.

A council spokesperson said “We can confirm that at the Appeals and Planning Review Committee meeting on January 13, the committee approved the application for outline planning permission, subject to conditions and completion of a Section 106 agreement and resolving outstanding highways matters within six months.”

Once the section 106 agreement is in place and the highways matter resolved, AEPG can look at securing approval for detailed planning applications which will pave the way for construction to get under way.

AEPG has refused to comment about the timetable for the start of construction or the completion of the homes and the leisure village.

But Ashley Butterfield, chief executive of AEPG, said last April: “We already have operators for our leisure village and a developer for the homes committed and ready to go as soon as we get planning approval.”

He said it was hoped to see spades in the ground by April this year.

AEPG has faced a tough battle to get its plans through the council’s planning process.

Councillors have spent a total of about 10 hours across two meetings considering AEPG’s plans.

While the planning committee on October 15 approved AEPG’s outline planning application for 850 homes, a leisure village, hotel, school and care village for one part of the Showground, it threw out a second application for 650 homes on an adjoining section that contained the Peterborough Panthers speedway track.

Four councillors ‘called in’ the refusal to be reviewed by the Appeals and Planning Review committee, which met on January 13 and overturned the refusal.

What will the Section 106 include?

A section 106 agreement will seek to ease the impact on a number of features including housing, education and healthcare.

• Housing: 30 percent of all dwellings on site to be affordable housing
• Education: A total financial contribution of £21,633,995 for early years, primary and secondary education. There will also be a serviced plot for a primary school
• Healthcare: A financial contribution of £2,072,143 towards additional/enhanced primary care facilities on or off site plus a financial contribution to bereavement services of £29.33 per bedroom and £470,900 to the East of England Ambulance Service.
• Community facilities must serve local needs, medical facilities, sports facilities, public house/restaurant with a timetable for implementation

Highways issues include:

• Speed limit changes to Joseph Odam Way/Orton Northgate, and Dunblane Drive area and to Orton Parkway.
• Financial Contributions to off-site highway schemes, including active travel scheme on Oundle Road.
• Financial Contributions to off-site cycleway infrastructure
• Milton land vehicular access to be provided and maintained via Joseph Odam Way.

Why is the Showground being sold?

For about five decades the East of England Showground has been a popular and regular leisure destination for thousands of local people and others from further afield.

Over the years it has staged many major public events, many of which had become firm favourites, such as the annual Truckfest, Antiques Festivals, Festival of Motorcycling, the National Caravan and Motorhomes show, Fireworks Fiesta, music concerts and the annual agricultural show as well as elite speedway racing and an array of exhibitions and conferences.

But times have changed and the agricultural society says attendance at its public events has fallen.

It also says that over the last 10 years many of the open air events staged at the East of England Showground have failed to cover their costs and make a profit.

And they say it is not possible to carry on running the Showground as an events venue which was only being supported to some degree by earnings from investments and land sales.

In a letter to the council, the Society states its Showground operations failed to make a profit – income minus expenses – in any year from 2010. The worst year was 2013 when its expenses exceeded its income by £1,005,000.

It also shows that in most years even with income from investments and land sales, the Society figures at the end of the year were in the red.

Agricultural Society bosses say selling the Showground will leave the Society to focus on its charitable aims of promoting agriculture, education, and rural life.

What do the development’s opponents say?

The council states it received 1,011 responses. This included 884 objections: 884. There were 64 responses in support plus letters of support from 56 local organisations. There were seven neutral responses.

But opponents have vowed to fight on to halt the development.

Councillor Julie Stevenson, one of the Orton Waterville representatives, said: “The decision does not mean it’s over. I’m not disheartened.

“I’m sure it will continue to an extra stage and we will wait to see what that will be.

"There is the possibility of a judicial review.

“There is an awful lot to talk about.

"And we’re talking about a development that is years away and there may be a completely different set of councillors in a couple of years.”

Cllr Nicola Day, one of the Orton Waterville representatives, said: ““This is not the end of the process. There could be a judicial review.”