New £200 million North Westgate plan reopens row over best way forward

A developer’s vow to seek the go-ahead for a £200 million plan to transform Peterborough’s North Westgate has reopened a row over the best way to secure the site’s long-awaited redevelopment.

Peter Breach, chairman of Hawksworth Securities, says he hopes to submit a new planning application for a hotel-led development of the 10 acre site to Peterborough City Council before the autumn.

Mr Breach, who has already had one planning application for the site approved, says his new proposals will take into account the changing requirements of a city centre with a focus on providing accommodation.

His previous outline application also for a hotel-led development with offices and apartments was approved by the council in 2018.

But that approval lapsed in 2021 after failing to meet a requirement to submit further details around ‘reserved matters’ within three years of the approval.

It triggered a call from Conservative Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald, who was then leader of the council, that landowners in North Westgate, bounded by Bourges Boulevard, Lincoln Road, Bright Street and Westgate, should be prepared to sell their land or face a council compulsory purchase order.

He said it was the only way the council could end a 30 year long wait for the development.

Following news of the new plans, Cllr Fitzgerald, who is now leader of the council’s Conservative group, said: “I still think the best way to secure the regeneration of North Westgate is for the council to push on and take control of the site.

“Obviously, Mr Breach is welcome to submit a planning application which will be considered on its merits.”

Cllr Nick Thulbourn, who is the Labour-run council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “We are looking at all plans for development in the city and the focus is on getting them delivered and finding out where the blockages are.”

Four months ago, the council released a video in which Nick Carter, growth and regeneration director, said North Westgate ‘has risen up in our priority list for a development that we need to get away.’

“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.”