Peterborough City Council urged to protect Hilton Garden Inn to avoid it becoming asylum seekers refuge
Fears have been voiced that Peterborough’s partly-built Hilton Garden Inn could end up being used as a refuge for asylum seekers if it is sold off to just any buyer.
Now Peterborough City Council is being urged to take action to ensure the unfinished nine-storey building at Fletton Quays is used as a high quality hotel in keeping with the original vision for the project more than a decade ago.
The alarm has been sounded by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor Paul Bristow and comes just four days before a key council meeting that could give the approval for the Hilton’s sale to the highest bidder as the local authority seeks to ease its financial woes.
In a just-released letter to council chiefs, Mr Bristow warns that the Hilton Garden Inn could end up in the same plight currently being faced by another city hotel, the Dragonfly in Thorpe Meadows, which is being used a refuge for asylum seekers.
He states: "Recent experience with The Dragonfly Hotel demonstrates what could happen.
“It remains entirely within the Council’s power to ensure that the building (Hilton Garden Inn) continues to operate as a hotel and is not repurposed for the accommodation of single men who have crossed the Channel on small boats, and a clear condition of sale should reflect this.”
“The original vision can only be protected if the future use of the building is properly safeguarded."
The letter is addressed to the council’s chief executive Matt Gladstone and Mr Bristow urges: “Would you please meet with me urgently to discuss the council’s actions regarding The Dragonfly Hotel and the intended future use of the Hilton Garden Inn following its sale?
Mr Bristow also states: “The hotel was originally presented as a landmark development – a high-quality destination with hotel rooms and a rooftop sky bar overlooking the Cathedral and river, intended to raise the city’s profile and act as a catalyst for wider regeneration across Fletton Quays.
"It represented an opportunity to position Peterborough confidently on the national stage.
"Given that ambition, it is vital that the Council makes clear to any future buyer the strategic importance of this site and the role it should play in the wider development plans for the city centre.
"We have a genuine opportunity to shape the future of our city centre, and it must not be allowed to go to waste.”
But Mr Bristow’s call seems unlikely to have an impact as council finance chiefs are looking to get as much money as possible from the sale to help reduce the council’s half a billion pound debts and the huge amount of interest that also had to be paid.
Councillor Mohammed Jamil, the deputy leader of the Labour group and cabinet member for finance and corporate governance, said: “Even if we could, why would the council place restrictions on the use of the building that might mean we reduce the amount of money we get for the building?
"If we can find someone to keep it as a hotel, then that will be brilliant.
"We want the Hilton Garden Inn to be something prestigious in line with everything else around it.
"But we cannot limit the amount we might be able to get for the hotel by trying to place restrictions on its use
And he added: “I think Mr Bristow is scaremongering about the building being used for asylum seekers.
"It tends to be those hotels that have suffered from a lack of investment and which few people actually stay in that become used for asylum seekers."
Although the council’s ruling cabinet agreed on October 2 that the 160-bedroom building should be sold, that decision is to be reviewed on Monday after being ‘called in’ by three councillors.
Cllr Jamil said: “The action to ‘call in’ the decision is just costing the council money.
"Every month we are paying £40,000 in interest on the loan and the cost of upkeep and the administration.”
Why is the Hilton Garden Inn up for sale?
Councillors agreed to sell the Hilton Garden Inn in a bid to recover as much as possible of a £15 million loan the local authority made to the developer in 2017.
Although construction work finally began in 2022 it was not long before the developer, under pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic and rising construction costs, ran out of money and work stopped.
The council, as the primary secured creditor, took the developer into administration in October 2023.
After months of considering various options for the building, the council has agreed it should instruct the administrator, Teneo to sell the building to a buyer which will deliver the best value to the local authority.
That decision will be reviewed at a meeting of the council’s Extraordinary, Call-In, Sustainable Future City Council Scrutiny Committee, which will take place at Sand Martin House on October 20 at 3pm..
Timeline for Peterborough’s Hilton Garden Inn
This timeline highlights the route to the tough decision now facing the council’s new Labour-run administration.
September 25, 2017: A two year £15 million loan advanced for hotel with first drawdown in May 2020. (Pay back due April 2022) The loan was agreed for Norlin Hotels Holdings. A council reports states the hotel is expected to be completed in 2019.
October 2018: Councillors voice alarm as it’s revealed ownership of Fletton Quays Hotel has switched from Norlin to Propiteer Hotels. The loan to be paid out over 48 months from the time of first payment to Propiteer. The hotel is now due to be completed in 2020.
December 2019: Start of Covid-10 pandemic in UK
March 2020: UK goes into lockdown
May 2020: Construction work is due to start but cannot because of lockdown
Mid-July 2020: Construction staff on site. Completion of hotel is expected by November 2022.
March 2022: City council agrees FIRST extension for loan with term extended to 31st March 2023. Developer says it had not been possible to start work as planned.
April 2022: Topping out ceremony at Hilton Garden Inn. Hilton Hotels managing director says he expects hotel to be open by January.
February 2023: Website bookings being taken from July 17.
March 2023: Appointment of a head chef and a food and drinks manager is announced. Website bookings being taken from December 17, 2023.
March 13, 2023: Council agrees SECOND extension to loan taking it to the end of 2023.
May 2023: Work on site slowed and then stopped
July 2023: Website bookings now being taken from July 2024.
October 17: 2023: Peterborough City Council announces it has taken developer into administration.
March 2024: Councillors told council has earmarked £10 million in case further investment needed in hotel’s completion. Says if council takes control it would then have the option of selling the hotel after three to five years.
May 22, 2024: Council announces it is to seek approval from extraordinary cabinet meeting on May 30 to submit credit bid to assume ownership of hotel.
October 2024: Administrator Teneo seeks a year long extension to administration period.
January 9, 2025: Sale of hotel fails as would-be purchaser pulls out at 11th hour
September 8, 2025: Spokesperson for Hilton Hotels says the company is still committed to operating at the Fletton Quays building when completed
September 26, 2025: Council leader Cllr Shabina Qayyum says needs of residents must be prioritised over ‘vanity project’ Hilton Garden Inn
October 2, 2025: Council’s ruling cabinet to be asked to approve marketing and sale of uncompleted Hilton Garden Inn to highest bidder
October 20, 2025: Council Scrutiny Committee to meet to review decision to sell the hotel.