New demand for Peterborough City Council to rethink East of England Showground development approval

The call comes from a campaign group representing residents at Orton Northgate, Southgate and Wistow after a deadline set by councillors was missed by land promoter AEPG.

The deadline, which ran out on July 17, was imposed by councillors when they approved outline development plans for the East of England Showground but stated that approval would be void if a Section 106 agreement had not been concluded in six months.

Orton Waterville Councillor Nicola Day, speaking on behalf of SPURR (Showground Plans Under Resident Review), said: “The city council said it was looking at extending the deadline, then we were advised it could be agreed in two or three days, and then that no specific time could be given.

"This throws the process into disarray.

"We need deadlines to be met, actions to be transparent, full consultation and for previous decisions to be reviewed by the city council’s planning committee.”

AEPG had submitted two outline planning applications to the council to develop the 164 acre East of England Showground site.

One involved the construction of 850 homes plus a leisure village, a care home, school and hotel. It was approved in October last year.

A second outline application for 650 homes on an adjoining part of the Showground and which included the former Peterborough Panthers speedway track, was rejected at the same meeting in October but that decision was overturned in January this year.

Cllr Day said residents were now calling on the council to go back to the drawing board over the plans.

She claimed that the planning process had been ‘littered with confusing details, a lack of public information and now a missed deadline.’

Cllr Day added: “The group calls on the council to explain why the crucial deadline has been missed.

“This latest confusion joins a line of issues that have dogged the planning process for 1,500 homes, leisure facilities and care village.”

The demand from SPURR follows a call from Forever Panthers, which was formerly Save Peterborough Speedway, asking the council to reconsider outline approval in light of what it said are ‘a number of procedural, legal and factual issues’.

Cllr Day added: “Peterborough deserves a better development, with a lower housing density, more green space, appropriate and innovative facilities - without more traffic on already-congested roads.”

The council has been invited to respond.