Peterborough councillors mount new bid to save multi-million pound development plan for farmland site

Councillors have been asked to take a second look at a £15 million development plan earmarked for a farmland site on the edge of Peterborough.

The move comes after Peterborough City Council’s planning committee had agreed by six votes to two with one abstention on March 21 to reject plans for a business park at Horsey Bridge, Whittlesey Road, Stanground.

That decision overturned a recommendation by council officers that the application should be approved.

Now three councillors have ‘called in’ the committee’s decision, which means it is likely to be reviewed at a future meeting of the council’s planning appeals committee.

The decision has been ‘called in’ by Cllr Ishfaq Hussain, Cllr Scott Warren and Cllr Lindsay Sharp.

The call-in notice states that the committee’s reasons for refusal were not supported by evidence and that there were no objections to the application by the relevant expert bodies.

It adds: “The decision, and the thought process that was followed by the committee to reach the decision, were both defective.”

The application from Barnack Estates involved building 20 commercial units offering 15,263 square metres of floor space for small and medium enterprises and creating 400 plus jobs, on a site that has not been allocated for industrial uses in the council’s Local Plan, which sets out where development is allowed to take place until 2036.

In a letter to councillors, the developer’s agent had outlined its concerns that there is a shortage of employment land in Peterborough and highlighted proposals to support eco-friendly transport, tree planting and landscaping, and the preservation of Cathedral views from the site.

But rejecting the application, most councillors agreed that the development would contravene Peterborough’s Local Plan and harm the character of the local area.

The application had also generated about 200 objections from nearby residents concerned about noise and disturbance from the site and the impact of extra traffic on local roads.

Afterwards, Cllr Chris Harper, chair of the planning committee, said: “I am disappointed the decision has been called in.

"The reasons given for the call in are not correct. To call it in disrespects the committee’s debate and the vote as well as the comments of the ward councillor.”