Posh’s council deal revealed

Creating space for a 25,000 seater stadium which can host Premier League football was part of an agreement made between Peterborough United and Peterborough City Council.

ThetwopartiessignedaMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) ahead of the council selling Posh’s London Road ground back to the club’s owners Darragh MacAnthony, Stewart Thompson and Jason Neale earlier this year.

Details of the MoU, which was signed on February 5, 2020, have now been made public due to concerns about Posh’s plans to move to a new stadium on the Embankment, with support from the council.

Under the sub-heading ‘Project Vision’, the MoU states: “The partners share a vision to create a football stadium fit for the 21st century that would enable PUFC to progress successfully towards Championship and Premier League football while also creating an asset of value to the city, through a multi-use venue capable of hosting conferences, concerts, exhibitions and events, attracting business, tourism and investment to the city, providing sports and education facilities for local people and a technology accelerator supporting the growth of business start-ups and small, entrepreneurial companies.”

Posh were in League One when the MoU was signed, but have since been promoted to the Championship.

Under ‘project aims and objectives,’ it is added: “The partners agree to collaborate to secure the most suitable, sustainable location within Peterborough that can accommodate a stadium of 25,000 with the range of ancillary facilities needed to achieve the project vision.

“PUFC has indicated its preference for a site to the west of Frank Perkins Parkway on the River Nene Embankment for its proposals, however, should this site not be acceptable for development for whatever reason, PUFC would consider exploring such a development on the site east of the Embankment before committing resources to design, development and planning.”

The council’s responsibilities include supporting Posh in “identifying potential sites for a new stadium” on top of “facilitating applications for external funding,” with the club and its owners responsible for the design and financing of the project.

Moreover, both parties agreed to set up a project delivery group to “oversee the design, development and delivery of the project within an

agreed delivery timescale and budget”.

This was meant to have led to planning approval – or at the very least an agreed site –

being secured by December 2020, however, the project is said to have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The MoU can be viewed

in full on the council’s website at: https://democracy. peterborough.gov.uk/documents/s44462/StadiumMoUSigned05022020.pdf.

The signing of the Memorandum of Undersanding. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com