Listen as Peterborough City Council chiefs tell how they seek to breathe new life into the development of North Westgate

Action is to be taken by Peterborough City Council to get the long-awaited multi-million pound North Westgate regeneration off the ground over the next 24 months.

Council chiefs are considering the use of the local authority’s powers to assemble the land which is under various ownerships within the 4.6 hectare site to ensure a development that will feature a hotel and 450 homes, becomes a reality after a wait of nearly 30 years.

The urgency of the challenge is outlined in a new video released by the council in which its growth and regeneration director Nick Carter and its special projects lead Jim Newton discuss the local authority’s one billion pound development ambitions for Peterborough.

In the video, Mr Carter states that North Westgate, which neighbours the Station Quarter, which itself recently attracted £48 million of Government Levelling Up Funds, has ‘risen up in our priority list for a development that we need to get away.

He says: “It is a 4.6 hectare site looking at around 450 homes and a hotel development.”

Outlining the scale of the challenge, Mr Carter states the site has ‘been with a land trader for 27 years now, with three peaks in the development cycle and two successful planning applications but unfortunately nothing’s happened.

“So we’re looking at ways of assembling this site ourselves, maybe looking at using the council’s own powers of intervention to ensure this development comes forward in the next 24 months.”

North Westgate, which is bounded by Bourges Boulevard, Lincoln Road, Bright Street and Westgate, features in the council’s new investment prospectus ‘Peterborough – talking ‘bout regeneration’, which lists the multiple investment opportunities in the city.

The site was the focal point of former council leader Councillor Wayne Fitzgerald’s ‘sell up’ ultimatum to land owners as he sought to end three decades of stalemate over the site’s development.

The largest landowner in North Westgate is Hawksworth Securities which actually secured planning permission for a a £150 million hotel, apartments and retail development in 2018 but that approval ran out in 2021.

Last summer, the council was criticised over moves to demolish a row of derelict homes in Cromwell Road, which is part of the North Westgate site.