Embankment athletics track trustees vow Peterborough people will not lose out over Arena plans

Trustees tasked with protecting Peterborough’s Embankment Athletics Stadium have vowed to ensure the community does not lose out in any race to build on the site.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

National parks and green spaces charity Fields in Trust has been the official guardian of the Athletics Stadium for the last 60 years when Peterborough City Council signed deeds making it the legal protector in perpetuity.

But now the Athletics Stadium is at the centre of a heated row after a just published masterplan to guide the development of the 70 acre Embankment suggested a 20,000 seater Arena - a new home for Peterborough United Football Club - could be built on the sports track.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A spokesman for Fields in Trust said: “If the Athletics Stadium is to be relocated, that will mean that the landowner, the council, will have to seek Fields in Trust’s consent.

Peterborough Athletics Stadium at the EmbankmentPeterborough Athletics Stadium at the Embankment
Peterborough Athletics Stadium at the Embankment

“In these situations the landowner has to comply with our Disposals Policy, and agree to protect additional land.

“Essentially Fields in Trust seeks to obtain a good recreational deal for the local community.”

However, the charity also realises that the needs of cities and towns alter over time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The spokesman said: “Fields in Trust recognises that landowners are best placed to manage protected spaces and that, over time, circumstances and needs change.”

A 3D image shows how a transformed Embankment might appear.A 3D image shows how a transformed Embankment might appear.
A 3D image shows how a transformed Embankment might appear.

According to the deeds, the Embankment Athletics Stadium has been protected by Fields in Trust since 1962 ‘for the purposes of athletics’.

The spokesman said he was aware the council was working with England Athletics on potential new locations for the athletics track.

However, the position of the Fields of Trust is another obstacle to smooth transformation of the Embankment envisaged by the council-requested masterplan that is meant to guide change on the land and avoid ugly piecemeal development.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Professor Ross Renton, the principal of the city’s new university, ARU Peterborough, has already warned that the proposed Arena is too close to the university and will pose operational challenges to the new seat of learning, which opens in September.

And campaign group Save Peterborough Embankment has stated that it is bizarre that the masterplan process had not considered the leisure, cultural, environmental and recreational potential of the Embankment in its current form.

In a statement on Facebook, the group says: “The Embankment has a history of culturally recognised events.

“The use of the Embankment as an open-air events space has been subject to long-standing council-imposed restrictions.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“For example, the current restriction of only 12 public events per year has not been questioned previously, despite consideration for an arena with a proposed year-round events programme.

“Prior to this Masterplan process, we feel there should have been research undertaken to assess the declining use of this space over recent years, including local perceptions, with a view that this would have been a more thorough and cost-effective approach to underpin the framework.

It adds: “There is plenty of time and opportunity for these, and more, areas to be addressed and we will continue to engage on behalf of the city’s current and future residents.”

A Peterborough City Council spokesperson, said: “The council is fully aware and we have proactively met with Fields in Trust, who have taken us through the process to re-provide the track in an alternative location should this be necessary in the future.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Over the last few months we have also met with the athletics club and England Athletics and begun to explore alternative locations for a track but these are at an early stage. We believe that there is the potential to provide improved facilities for the club as well as driving new users to ensure as an asset for the city it is as accessible and well used as possible.

“We will continue to work with the club and partners to explore the options in more detail through 2022. The Embankment Masterplan, published last week explains that a relocation is not necessary straight away, so we have time to really consider the needs of track users and the merits of any relocation.”

READ MORE: