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A multi-million pound leisure village and housing development planned for the East of England Showground is making progress following the end of major events at the venue.

Showground operator AEPG submitted an outline planning application for the redevelopment of the 165 acre site last April.

Peterborough City Council officers are still studying key assessments that need to be completed before the submission can be validated and included on the local authority’s publicly-accessible register of planning applications ahead of councillors being asked for their approval.

This image shows (top) the layout of the proposed leisure village, in the foreground, and the homes at the East of England Showground in Peterborough, and Ashley Butterfield, chief executive of AEPG

The Showground has been winding down the major events, such as the Festival of Antiques, Truckfest and Plantworx, which have taken place at the venue for years.

A spokesperson for AEPG said: “The last of the events has now taken place at the Showground, which allows full access to the site for some specialists to be able to complete the final reports required for the application to move forward.

“These reports will be completed in due course which will enable the application to be considered.

“We continue to work closely with Peterborough City Council, council officers, and are making arrangements to meet with local MPs to provide them with an update on this significant development for the city.

This image shows the layout of the proposed leisure village, in the foreground, and the homes at the East of England Showground in Peterborough.

“No specific issues have been identified, but an application of this size requires a lot of time and effort from both sides.”

The outline planning application, which was submitted about 11 weeks ago, proposes the construction of up to 1,500 homes and a £50 million leisure village, which is expected to create about 500 jobs.

Developers have queried the amount of time taken for early assessments of planning applications to be completed.

A council spokesperson said: “Due to an increase in the number of planning applications received at the end of the financial year together with a period of staff turnover, there has been a delay in validation of planning applications last month.

"Measures have been put into place to ensure that any outstanding invalid applications are processed as quickly as possible.

"With the appointment of three new staff, we expect that normal validation timescales will be resumed.”

Multi-million pound development plans for East of England Showground make progress