Cambridgeshire MP Shailesh Vara says 'no stone should be left unturned' to save Peterborough speedway track

A Cambridgeshire MP has said he wants “no stone left unturned” to try to keep the sports stadium at the East of England Showground in Peterborough in use.

Shailesh Vara, the Conservative MP for North West Cambridgeshire, said that he would like to see the stadium, previously used by the Peterborough Panthers speedway team, continue to operate as a “valued local sporting institution”.

But AEPG, the company facilitating the current redevelopment of the Showground, says that this year’s speedway races were always going to be the last at the site, regardless of plans to build new houses and other facilities on it.

In a statement, released in early October, a spokesperson for the company said that they “understand the disappointment at the imminent closure of the East of England Showground in its current form”, including the grandstand used by the Peterborough Panthers, but that the land needed to be clear of commercial agreements in order for it to be sold by its owners, the East of England Agricultural Society.

The speedway team has known about this for several years, AEPG says, and their continued use of the stadium would not be “commercially viable for the landowner and site operator”.

Mr Vara’s comments were part of a letter he wrote regarding a recent planning application relating to a smaller section of the Showground.

Earlier this week, Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) planning committee voted down a retrospective request to run a DHL car storage and maintenance depot at the site after residents complained that lorries entering the grounds were creating unpleasant and unsafe conditions.

One resident who addressed the committee read out the letter from Mr Vara, in which he said he is “deeply concerned” by the “treatment of ordinary citizens living nearby" the grounds.

“I appreciate that Peterborough City Council is fully supportive of this development, but that should not be to the extent that there is little regard or respect for residents who live alongside the showground,” he continued.

Representatives of AEPG and DHL told the committee that they were assured that applying for planning permission retrospectively was appropriate and that they had to move quickly on setting up the depot after learning it needed to be relocated from another area.

They also denied that lorries have been driving along residential roads as not all of Dunblane Drive, their preferred point of access to the site, is occupied by houses, but did apologise for the number of vehicles in the area initially.

The site has been operational since around February this year.

A spokesperson for AEPG said that the company has no further comment in light of the planning committee’s decision at this stage.

The statement from Mr Vara reads in full:

“This is a major development, and I am deeply concerned at the way it is progressing, particularly as regards treatment of ordinary citizens living nearby.

“There is conflicting data being supplied by both sides and I very much hope that video evidence provided by local residents will be fully considered as it provides a very different version of the facts than produced by others.

“I am also very concerned that, despite the DHL retrospective application having been turned down, there is a "business-as-usual" attitude.

“I further understand that there is now the loading and offloading of unregistered cars from transporters in the local industrial estate and the cars are then being driven onto the site through Dunblane Drive. I hope the planning committee will agree that this is not an acceptable way forward.

“I appreciate that Peterborough City Council is fully supportive of this development, but that should not be to the extent that there is little regard or respect for residents who live alongside the showground.

“On a separate note, I am concerned that the stadium used by the Peterborough Panthers Speedway Team will be closing, and even at this late stage I would request that no stone is left unturned in terms of ensuring the continuity of a valued local sporting institution.”