The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
‘Air dome’ academy for Posh plans approved
Peterborough United’s plans for a new ‘air dome’ training facility have been given the goahead.
Posh have been seeking to revamp their training academy at Nene Park Academy in Oundle Road after receiving approval for Category 2 status – the second highest available for academies.
However, the members of Peterborough City Council Planning Committee which met on Tuesday (June 29) had been guided by their planning officers to refuse the giant dome on the basis that it would cause significant disturbance to local residents.
But Cllr Peter Hiller said that wasn’t the way the committee saw things: “We all acknowledge the work that Posh do in the wider community, and most people in the city support them in these activities.
“While I do have some sympathy for the residents who are nearest to the academy and foundation associated with the football club, they have to accept that for this city’s club to progress, some sacrifices are worth making, and I believe this is one of them.”
Earlier, the committee had heard from representatives of the designers of the air dome, and also from club representatives. Mark Woods, agent for Posh said: “The young boys and young girls who will benefit from this facility will realise in time when they come to play for the first team at Posh, just what a bonus this was.
“Currently, the Academy runs a Class F1 (local community and learning) Scheme; but this air dome will raise that to Class 2, a much higher and far more professional level.
“What that means in real terms is that our talented youngsters in Peterborough, instead of going to Norwich, or Leicester, or another Premier League club to learn their profession, will want to stay local. They will want to be with Posh instead of elsewhere. We want our talent to stay local, play for Posh and so our fans can really sing: ‘He’s one of our own’, or:‘She’s one of our own’.”
Cllr Christian Hogg had some concerns however. He said: “Do you recognise the concerns of the local residents who are going to have to look out of their windows and see this 63m long, 45m wide, 12m high ‘blimp’?”
Paul Ingle, designer of the air dome for Posh, said: “Yes, of course we realise that this isn’t the greatest view in the world, but we’ve sighted it so that the nearest residential property is 50m away and at a tangent to the air dome, so nobody will see it full-on.”
Cllr Hiller also had concerns: “I see that some of the residents who have objected have serious concerns about late-night vehicle movements and the noise associated with that – what do you have to say to them?”
Peterborough United chief executive Bob Symns, said: “The academy already has evening and night-time classes that run up to 9pm. We envisage that there will be some additional vehicle movements in and out of the academy up to 9:30pm when people leave for the evening.
“But we believe that this football club could not have done more to appease the residents who feel they will be affected – we’ve included massive sound-screening planting around the entire area, we’ve added additional car parking spaces inside the academy grounds so that people will not park near residential properties or on the local streets.”
Members voted by majority to approve the air dome for Posh Academy.