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Why has Peterborough's local plan been called in?

Careers September 15, 2026 11:32 AM
Why has Peterborough's local plan been called in?

A plan for 20,000 new homes and 196 hectares (484 acres) of employment space in a city could go back to the drawing board.

Peterborough City Council is holding an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday evening on whether to review the final draft of its local plan.

The document has already been approved by the council's cabinet, but the decision was later called in.

This is what the call-in could mean for people in Peterborough.

A call-in is a formal process in local government that allows councillors to ask for a major decision to be reviewed.

In this case, three Conservative councillors — Kirsty Knight, Steve Allen and Asim Mahmood — asked for the final draft of the local plan to be looked at again.

If a scrutiny panel agrees, the document will be referred back to the council's cabinet, which made the decision in the first place.

Why has the local plan been called in?

The three councillors pointed to a last-minute decision to remove plans for industrial units to be built on 115.5 hectares (285 acres) of land north of the Old River Nene in Stanground.

They questioned the evidence supporting its removal and asked how future employment needs would be met elsewhere.

They also raised concerns over plans for more than 2,000 homes on and near the East of England Showground in The Ortons.

They said there should be scrutiny over the impact on essential services such as transport, education and health.

Council officers have already responded to the concerns.

They said there was a risk the government's Planning Inspectorate, which will examine the plan, could find it "unsound" because of the shortfall in employment land.

They said large developments, such as the showground, "must function as sustainable communities", but that the details over infrastructure and facilities would be discussed at the planning stages.

Local plans help determine what gets built and where, such as areas for housing, leisure and business, and which areas should be protected from development, such as parks or agricultural land.

Every local planning authority in England has one.

Peterborough has a housing target of more than 20,000 new homes over the next two decades, and its current local plan runs until 2036.

The new local plan would extend this timeline to 2043.

If the call-in is rejected, the council is expected to begin a six-week public consultation before submitting the draft to the Planning Inspectorate.

If the call-in is upheld, the document would go back to cabinet, potentially delaying that timetable.

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How does Peterborough Local Plan affect residents?

Major plan to shape city's development approved

Plan for 20,000 homes to be re-examined