A leading Conservative councillor says Peterborough City Council should get on and oversee the completion of the partly-built Hilton Garden Inn. Conservative group leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald says that if the business case makes sense, the local authority should push on and ensure the building is finished as soon as possible. His comments come after it was revealed that a potential purchaser for the nine storey hotel at Fletton Quays had pulled out of talks with the council to buy the building at the ‘last minute’. The council effectively owns the 160-bedroom hotel after having lent £15 million to the developer in 2017 to start building the hotel on the banks of the River Nene. The council took the developer, Fletton Quays Hotel, into administration in 2023 after months during which no construction work had taken place. Cllr Fitzgerald, who was part of the ruling Conservative group which approved the £15 million loan, said: “I’m extremely disappointed to hear the news about the buyer pulling out of the deal. "I cannot speak for the previous leader of the group, but it looked a fine project and at the start was only supposed to be an 18 months-long project. "Who could imagine the outbreak of Covid-19 and the soaring cost of construction products that followed? He said: “I won’t criticise past decisions. However, I am hopeful that in the end we will still get this project completed and it will be a great addition to the city’s skyline and economy. Cllr Fitzgerald added: “I have always been in favour of the council seeing this project through to completion, if it made business sense to do so. “I’d rather the council just got on with it than dilly dallying around. "I’m confident the hotel will be completed.” The potential buyer, which has not been named, withdrew from the negotiations with the council over the purchase of the nine-storey building at Fletton Quays, just days before Christmas. It means the council is now looking to begin talks with two other parties that had previously expressed an interest in buying the hotel empty and vulnerable to the weather. But the council could opt instead to oversee the completion of the building.
