Developer vows 'we won't give up' over £15 million business park plan for Horsey Bridge

The boss of developer Barnack Estates has vowed that he ‘will not give up’ on plans for a multi-million pound business park on the edge of Peterborough.

The pledge comes from Rob Facer, chairman of Barnack Estates, based in Orton Southgate, Peterborough, after Peterborough City Council leader Councillor Wayne Fitzgerald announced last night (May 22) he was axing next month’s meeting of a call-in committee that would have reconsidered the local authority’s decision to refuse plans for the business park on farmland at Horsey Bridge, Whittlesey Road, in Stanground.

The move came after four members of the council’s Conservatives group announced they were leaving the group with some citing the move by three councillors to ‘call in’ the decision as one of the reasons for their departure.

But Mr Facer emphasised that his company had not played any part in the decisions of Conservative Councillor Ishfaq Hussain, Cllr Scott Warren and Cllr Lindsay Sharp to call in the planning committee’s refusal decision.

And Mr Facer said: “Barnack Estates fully understands why the call in committee has been withdrawn and we fully support that for the good of the city and local politics.

"We continue to liaise with the planning officers to see what the next steps will be.

And he added: “Despite the claims of some, there has not been any impropriety regarding this application.”

It is a matter of public record that Mr Facer is president of the Peterborough Conservative Association and filings with the Electoral Commission show that his companies, Barnack Estates and Sabre One Investments, have made donations to the Peterborough Conservative Association, varying from £15,077 to help the Peterborough and North West Cambridgeshire associations during the local elections in 2022, and donations of £5,000 in 2021 and 2019 and £2,577 in 2021.

Mr Facer said: "I also support three charities and I am the main sponsor for Armed Forces Day and over the last 10 years have supported Opportunity Peterborough.

"It is just wrong for anyone to say that we had any part to play in councillors’ decision to call in the decision.

“Barnack Estates and Rob Facer did not have any input whatsoever into the call in notice.”

Following the cancellation of the review of the refusal decision, Mr Facer said: “We will not give up on this application – we will now review our options.

He said: "We might consider submitting a new planning application, or promoting the site as a development option through the new Local Plan review and we might appeal to the Secretary of State against the council’s decision to refuse permission for the application.

He added: “We have already sought advice from a King’s Counsel barrister and we believe we have immensely strong grounds for an appeal in that the planning committee’s decision was ‘unlawful’ when measured against planning policy and law.”

The Horsey Bridge application involves the construction of 20 commercial units offering 15,263 square metres of floor space for small and medium enterprises and creating 400 plus jobs on a 6.3 hectares agricultural site.

However, the issue is complicated because the site is not allocated for industrial uses in the council’s current Local Plan, which sets out where development is allowed to take place until 2036. But a review of the Local Plan is under way, which means councillors could approve the development proposals if they wished.

Mr Facer said: “We will not be giving up on this application.

"There is too much money invested.

"So far we have invested more than £200,000 in professional advice and archaeological works at the site. In fact most of the money has been spent on archaeological works – there have been two digs at the site.

"Also, all of the consultees, except for the tree officer, are supportive of the application.

"The next step is to wait for the formal refusal notice, see what the actual grounds are for refusal and then decide what to do from there.

"Going to appeal is clearly an option.

He added: "Barnack Estates has been a sympathetic developer in Peterborough and demonstrated it for over 18 years.

"Up to now, we have worked extremely well with Peterborough City Council and we have created thousands of jobs throughout the city.

"And I don’t want to spoil that relationship and that’s why I’m not going to jump to appeal immediately.

"The council announced last December it was going to review the Local Plan, at point that was dismissed by the planning committee, but it does give us a course of action.

"We can promote the site to be included in the new Local Plan, bearing in mind that the site in general was allocated in the previous Local Plan as a rail freight hub."

One of the reasons driving the development is a perceived lack of available space across the Peterborough area for new and expanding businesses.

Two years ago Barnack Estates published an indepth report that outlined the shortage of industrial land across Peterborough.

Mr Facer said: “The planning officers recognised the shortage of deliverable development land which is restricting sustainable growth of Peterborough and they recommended approval for our plans.

He added: "There is a desperate shortage of industrial warehousing for businesses which are moving out of Peterborough and into Huntingdonshire because it has warehouses to move into.

“The Peterborough business community is desperate for sustainable growth."