NOT THE RIGHT LOCATION

Peterborough United coowner Stewart Thompson has revealed that the club has only offered its ‘tepid support’ to the city’s Embankment masterplan; labelling the new arena’s location as ‘not good for the university or the city’.

The city council finally revealed its Masterplan for the area in the heart of the city in the past week.

The plan, produced by consultants Barton Wilmore, has made provision for the creation of a roughly 20,000 capacity multi-purpose ‘Peterborough Arena’ that Posh would use to play their home matches in.

This provision, however, is right on top of the current athletics track and would mean the arena would sit right against the new ARU Peterborough campus.

The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding last year but both have expressed concerns about co-existing in such close proximity.

Mr Thompson said: “Our reaction to it is tepid.

“We are comfortable with the move away from the riverside, we respect the cathedral views and the need for green space at the front of the Embankment.

“We have always thought of the Embankment as sacred ground and will be treating it as such if we move there with a sympathetic design for the venue, however, moving it right into sharing space into the university is not good for the university or the city.

“We just don’t see having 5000 away supporters walking through our new university campus as a good fit for anybody. It will put some pressure on our partnership with the university. We will enter into discussions.

“We know in discussing with the consulting group that support for an arena on the Embankment was overwhelming.

“We will go forward now and start getting our planning and permit options ready and want to go forward working with the city and the university to find an ideal place for everybody, but we don’t think the one they have chosen is the right one.”