Pegasus Group, on behalf of Peterborough HE Property Company, has received planning permission for a new university in Peterborough.

Peterborough City Council received the application on the 10th August 2020 and granted permission on Thursday 12th November 2020.The plans seek to erect a three-storey building on the land at Bishops Road Eastgate Peterborough. It also included a change of use of the land to form a university, creation of vehicular access, car parking and associated infrastructure and landscaping.

The approval marks an important step in the delivery of these proposals and follows on from an extensive public consultation exercise undertaken in February. The university will be named ‘ARU Peterborough’. Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has already been selected as the official higher education partner for the new employment-focused university, which aims to open to its first cohort of 2,000 students in 2022.

The curriculum at the new university will be designed to target the economic needs of the local area, specifically focused on benefitting local residents and businesses.

The university’s first four faculties will be:

  • The Faculty of Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • The Faculty of Creative and Digital Arts and Sciences
  • The Faculty of Agriculture, Environment and Sustainability
  • The Faulty of Health and Education.

These faculties have all been selected in response to emerging areas of employment and opportunity in the local economy.

Mayor James Palmer, said: “Thanks to our commitment to delivery and our challenging of old thinking, this university project is now really gathering pace. We have completed the business case, we have formed a partnership with Anglian Ruskin University, and now our plans for the campus buildings are starting their way through the planning process.”

“As this university grows it will act as a real disruptor in the higher education market, providing top class education with a real chance of a local job at the end. I hope this application will be swiftly dealt with, so we can carry on pushing the delivery of the university the people of Peterborough have been waiting 20 years for.”

Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: “The development of ARU Peterborough provides a huge opportunity to tackle the social and economic inequalities that exist across the region.”

“We look forward to working with our partners to build an outstanding, employment-focused university for Peterborough and welcoming our first students, both on and off campus, in September 2022.”

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