New call for Peterborough's speedway track to become parkland in East of England Showground development

Peterborough’s speedway track should become parkland as part of a multi-million pound homes and leisure development of the East of England Showground, it has been claimed.

The call comes as concerns are voiced at an apparent lack of allotments and park space included in the 1,500 homes and leisure village development planned for the Showground.

The objection has been raised by Peterborough City Council’s open spaces management team which has described two planning applications for the Showground as ‘underwhelming’.

It says the speedway track, which has been home to Peterborough Panthers for 53 years and will disappear as part of the development, should become part of the proposed Main Park and there should be more space for allotments.

The Showground operator, AEPG, is seeking approval for the outline planning applications that would see hundreds of homes plus a £50 million leisure village built on the 164 acres venue and set within what the developer describes as a ‘enhanced biodiverse landscape.’

But Michael Britton, for the council’s open spaces management team, has submitted an objection to the plans.

He says the proposed Main Park needs to be made bigger and and ‘should actually be the current main Showground outdoor speedway and events area.’

He also states: “The allotment locations proposed appear to have either been pushed to the extremities of the site (giving little natural surveillance) or appear (no quantities can be found) to be too small.”

He adds: “To be clear the current proposals are unacceptable, especially given the recent anti-social behaviour and vandalism that we are seeing within our urban allotments, again where we have lack of natural surveillance.

“If as detailed there is an aspiration for this application to be one of the most prestigious developments in the UK then further thought should be included along the lines of high quality outdoor gym equipment and other destination areas within the neighbourhood parks.”

A spokesperson for AEPG said: “The illustrative masterplan is provided to describe the type of development being applied for in planning at outline, which is informed by best practice standards.

“The City Council adopted local plan standards for open space and allotments are incorporated in the Green Infrastructure strategy, which combines nature and ecology with active and healthy living, of which the allotments are one component.

"Their location is intentional within the eastern boundary to create a substantial open space along a safe, well-lit, accessible route, overlooked by users and adjacent dwellings at Orton Southgate and the new residents of this development.

“Our Masterplans indicate clearly where we will provide additional connectivity into the adjacent development to the east at locations within our land ownership, beyond which we cannot.

“Whilst the client officer’s thought on the location of the central park is noted, the option we have selected for the Illustrative Masterplan is informed by the evolution of objective design criteria to demonstrate how the overall development could function.

“Both applications are Outline with Parameter Plans, the DAS and Illustrative Masterplan being provided as supporting information to describe the development. All other comments are reasonably addressed through the discharge of planning conditions and detailed applications at the appropriate time in the development programme.”