Planning refusal could be issued if deadline missed

A six month deadline has been set for East of England Showground promoter AEPG to resolve traffic concerns around its 850 homes and a leisure village plan.

The cut off point was a condition of approval for the development set by Peterborough City Council’s planning committee on October 15 who warned a refusal notice could be issued if the deadline is missed.

The move came after councillors and residents had raised concerns about the proposed access to the Showground for the hundreds of residents expected to live in the proposed 850 homes.

Plans to build 850 homes and a leisure village on the East of England Showground have been approved by Peterborough councillors who have also set a six month deadline for traffic issues to be resolved or the permission could be declared void.

placeholder image — Plans to build 850 homes and a leisure village on the East of England Showground have been approved by Peterborough councillors who have also set a six month deadline for traffic issues to be resolved or the permission could be declared void.

Councillors were told that even though the planning application had been put before the committee, highways officials had stated that there were still outstanding technical issues to be resolved.

These concerned the upgrade and signalisation of Oundle Road, Orton Parkway roundabout and safety measures around Linden Gardens.

The plans envisaged all traffic from the new development would use Joseph Odam Way as the entrance and exit.

But campaigners claim this would just push even more traffic on to an already busy Oundle Road.

They claimed that if there was an accident, Joseph Odam Way would be blocked and there would be a traffic gridlock in the neighbourhood.

Councillors agreed by seven votes to two that the development plans should be approved.

However, they also decided that a section 106 agreement should be put in place in addition to 40 various conditions to be met by the developer, .

Councillors agreed that ‘if either the required Section 106 legal agreement has not been completed or the outstanding highways issues have not been fully resolved within six months from the date of the committee meeting, and there are no extenuating circumstances which would justify a further extension of time, then the Committee delegates the issuing of a notice of refusal to the Executive Director of Place and Economy on the grounds that the development has failed to adequately mitigate its impacts.”

Afterwards, Cllr Julie Stevenson, one of the city council’s representatives for the area, said: “The clock is ticking on this and we will be keeping an eye on it.

"It is essential that these issues are resolved before any other work is started.”

A second application for 650 homes on adjoining land was rejected by planners.