East of England Showground promoter delighted as green light granted for 650 homes

The boss of land promoter AEPG has spoken of his delight after securing the go ahead for a 650 homes development on the East of England Showground.

Members of Peterborough City Council’s appeals and planning review committee approved the outline planning approval for the 650 homes which are earmarked for part of the Showground Occupied by the Peterborough Panthers’ speedway track for 53 years.

The decision overturned a refusal for the 650 homes just four months ago by the council’s planning committee, which at the same meeting had approved a separate outline planning application from AEPG for 850 homes plus a 50 acre leisure village, school, hotel and care village on an adjoining part of the Showground.

It means that AEPG now has approval to build 1,500 homes plus the leisure village and other amenities on the 164-acre East of England Showground.

Afterwards, Ashley Butterfield, chief executive of AEPG, said: “I’m very glad the decision was made.

"We are suitably delighted.

He said: "It has been a very long time coming.

“We will provide a full analysis after this has sunk in."

Mr Butterfield had told the committee: “This will create 195 affordable homes, put £14 million a year into the Peterborough economy, create 230 permanent jobs, 300 construction jobs, training and apprentice opportunities, 19 acres of green open space and leisure and sports provision.”

Plans for the leisure-led development of the East of England Showground were first unveiled three years ago.

The move came after the venue’s owners, the East of England Agricultural Society, had announced it had no further use for the land and that holding public events on the site had made a £6 million loss over the last 10 years.

However, the proposals ran into a lot of opposition from residents opposed to what they described as an overdevelopment of the site and lack of adequate access for traffic.

Many of the objections came from speedway fans in Peterborough and further afield furious that the track and grandstand would no longer have a use.

And councillors representing householders have vowed that the fight to stop the development is not over despite the committee’s decision.

Councillor Julie Stevenson, one of the Orton Waterville representatives, said: “The decision today 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: “Residents will be really disappointed. No one asked them how they felt.

“This is not the end of the process. There could be a judicial review.”

"We have worked incredibly hard and had lots of public meetings with residents.”