Deadline looms for leisure-village development plans for East of England Showground

The first deadline is looming for the East of England Showground developer AEPG as it looks to comply with council demands about its leisure village plans for the venue.

AEPG secured approval to build 850 homes plus a 50 acre leisure village, to be called Cultura Place plus a school, hotel and care village on part of the 164 acre Showground.

But Peterborough City Council’s planning committee, which met on October 15 last year, while approving the outline planning application imposed a six months deadline on AEPG to agree a section 106 agreement and tackle highways issues.

That deadline will be reached early next month.

And councillors have warned that if the information it needs is not ready and there are not sufficient reasons for an extension to the deadline, then the planning approval will be void.

The same will apply to a second outline planning application for 650 homes on an adjoining section of the Showground, which was once home to speedway racing and was the home of top racing team Peterborough Panthers.

But this time AEPG has until early July this year to provide the details needed by the council.

A council spokesperson said: “The Planning Committee resolutions of October 15th and January 13th to approve the Showground development, gave a six month deadline for AEPG to complete the section 106 agreement and resolve the outstanding highways issues unless there are extenuating circumstances.

"When the deadline is reached, the council will consider if there are any extenuating circumstances to justify an extension of time.

He added: “The deadline for the 800 homes which was approved on October 15 is six months from that date, the deadline for 600 homes approved on January 13 is six months from that date.”

Once the work is completed, AEPG will have to secure approval for full planning applications for its development.

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.”