Peterborough City Council chief executive encourages all residents and businesses to be part of city's development review

The chief executive of Peterborough City Council is urging all employers and residents to make sure they contribute to an overhaul of a key development blueprint that will determine the shape of the city for decades.

The call comes from Matt Gladstone after the local authority announced that a public review of the city’s Local Plan will get under way next month.

The current Local Plan was adopted in 2019 and covers development up until 2036 but some investors have warned the city is fast running out of sites for employment uses, which risks slowing the rate of growth of Peterborough.

Speaking today (June 30) after an Opportunity Peterborough meeting at Lynch Wood Park, Mr Gladstone said: "The council is really keen to embrace the economic growth agenda.

"The city is one of the fastest growing cities across the whole country and we have opened up our Local Plan process.

"We are reviewing our employment and housing sites and it is absolutely critical we get businesses, individuals and developers to give us their thoughts and ideas around the sites and proposals as we really want to see the city grow but in a much more sustainable and inclusive manner.

He said: “There are lots of development opportunities coming forward and I am really keen for developers and businesses to give us those perspectives and ideas around land, development and in particular investment proposals.

He added: “There are lots of opportunities in Peterborough and that is what our strapline is – ‘a city of opportunity’.

Referring to concerns about a shortage of development sites, Mr Gladstone said: “The growth of the city has been absolutely huge – the employment area in terms of land development - we have exceeded that level of supply and I think it is really important we take stock of that and look at where the new growth opportunities are going to come from.

"For me, it is less about down the A1 corridor but much more around the city centre.

"We have a new university – what does that mean for entrepreneurial, digital, life sciences and some of the environmental aspects?

“We are looking to see how we can sustain this level of investment and make links back into Peterborough with Cambridge and the wider region into the university campus.

"Phase three of the university is under way and it is absolutely key we get that exploited and look at those opportunities for land in Peterborough.”

The Local Plan is due to be updated over the next three years following a proposed public consultation from July 28 until September 15, 2023. The final decision to launch the consultation will be confirmed by the council’s ruling Cabinet on July 10.

Cllr Marco Cereste, cabinet member for growth and regeneration, said: “We have enormous opportunities at our fingertips with over £80 million of Government investment and many more millions of private sector investment in the pipeline.”