The castle-like building has been a restaurant as well as a court and prison

A former popular city restaurant will be brought back to life as plans to bring it back into “beneficial use” have been approved. The Sessions House along Thorpe Road in Peterborough was a favourite restaurant of many for several years, until it closed in 2012.

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Before it was a restaurant, it was also a prison and court house. Back in December last year, Mr R Fasulo proposed to partially demolish the building, extend it at the back and make other internal alterations.

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The castle-like building was described as “iconic” in Peterborough, and Mr Fasulo hoped to bring it back into “beneficial use”. In the plans, the applicant also said it would bring a “long-vacant” building back into use.

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On March 11, Peterborough City Council approved the plans. Before the plans were approved, they received a mix of comments of support and objections.

One objector in Waterfield Close said the smell from a large kitchen would result in “cooking odours escaping into my property and garden”. Another objector said due to the building being aged, they worried any “demolition or enlargement would harm its architectural integrity and diminish the heritage value it provides to the community”.

They added: “Approving such changes would set an unwanted precedent for altering and eroding historic buildings that should instead be preserved.” One person in support of the plans said it was a “great idea” to redevelop the “beautiful building”.

The former restaurant backs onto a housing estate. The site of the housing estate was the former Peterborough District Hospital, which was demolished several years ago.

People have raised questions about what will be done to make sure the doctor's surgery isn't affected

Villagers said they feel “ignored” as they feel a 5,000-home development will overrun their local doctors' surgery. The population of Yaxley, near Peterborough, has grown rapidly over the years - and as more people move to the area, more people need healthcare.

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Previously, a number of residents in Yaxley told CambridgeshireLive they felt their surgery was “overcrowded”. Paul Underwood, chair of the Yaxley Patient Participation Group for Lakeside Healthcare, fears the nearby Great Haddon development - where more than 5,000 homes are being built - could put pressure on existing services that Paul said “do a damn good job”.

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Paul said: “The problem is Yaxley and the catchment is a big area - around 25,000 people. And that was never designed for that many people.

“With 5,000 houses coming on, that gives you a minimum of 10,000 patients split between Yaxley and Haddon.” Paul and other members of the PPG said there “needs to be other facilities in the area”.

Paul said Lakeside is trying to get “interim” facilities until Great Haddon has its own surgery. However, Paul said this is “not so straightforward”. He added: “What we need to know is their funding. We know there is a need. My fear and what the PPG feels is any temporary measure put in now may end up by default becoming the measure, and that’s not what we want.”

A spokesperson for Yaxley GP Surgery said: "The practice has identified additional space locally and has had the support of the ICB to do the necessary works to bring this forward. However, we have experienced delays in finalising a lease with the landlord. We and the ICB are chasing this at the moment and hope to hear back from the landlord so that we can progress the project as soon as possible."

Last year, Lakeside Healthcare was ranked as one of the best GP surgeries in Peterborough, according to NHS data. Paul said: “We are high up in the pecking order of doctors' [surgeries], but we want to keep that. If you visualise another in eight years time, 10,000 people coming on, where do we put them? How do you do it?”

Clerk to Yaxley Parish Council Helen Taylor is also concerned about the growing numbers the doctors' surgery may face. She said the village feels “ignored”. Cllr Taylor added: “The parish council are very concerned because residents are reporting issues regarding getting into the doctors, getting appointments.

“We know there is going to be over 5,000 houses built in Great Haddon, and we’ve been told there won’t be a doctors' surgery until 2029, if the demand is there.

“This Yaxley group practice covers a large area. It covers Hampton, Stilton and Folksworth. You’ve got houses to be built in these areas, so it’s more people using the doctors' surgery. We’ve got excellent service here, and we don’t want to see that go down.”

Peterborough City Council oversaw the planning application for the Great Haddon development. A council spokesperson said: "Great Haddon Urban Extension was permitted outline consent under 09/01368/OUT and within the accompanying s106 agreement, there is the obligation for the delivery of 1,000sqm Health Centre to support residents."

Peterborough City Council is set to approve an ambitious new healthy lifestyle charter which aims to encourage a collective and systemic approach to tackling obesity.

At next week’s cabinet meeting on March 24, councillors will hear a report requesting support and commitment to the Obesity Charter, a long-term vision which sets out a shared vision for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to become a place where, in 20 years’ time, healthy weight is typical.

“By 2045, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough will be a place where healthy weight is the norm, where all residents have equal opportunities to live healthy lives, and where obesogenic environments have been transformed to support wellbeing for all,” the charter states.

“Obesogenic environment” is a relatively new, catch-all term which essentially means any setting which tends to cause obesity.

The report set to go before Cabinet has been authored by Dr Damilola Akinsulire, Consultant in Public Health.

“Obesity levels remain high across the UK and locally, with 64 per cent of adults overweight or obese and significant increases documented since the 1990s,” she explains.

“Childhood obesity has stabilised but has not declined, and inequalities remain entrenched,” she adds.

Dr Akinsulire’s report goes on to highlight how obesity manifests itself unequally across our region:

“In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, obesity disproportionately affects people living in more deprived areas, certain ethnic groups, disabled residents, and those with limited access to healthy food and physical activity environments,” she states.

The report also says obesity is far more than just a health issue:

“The economic impact is substantial,” she notes: “obesity related productivity losses and healthcare demand cost the UK over £126bn annually.”

The charter proposes three key areas of action to tackle these pressing issues:

Improving obesogenic environments that shape people’s behaviour;

Supporting healthier individual behaviours through evidence-based behavioural interventions, and:

implementing a coordinated, whole-system approach across organisations and sectors.

It is hoped that, because this approach prioritises structural and environmental changes – such as planning policies, food environments, and workplace initiatives – it will succeed where initiatives based on relying solely on individual behaviour change have so often failed.

If the charter is to be successful then it will need public sector leaders to pledge to make obesity prevention a strategic priority, as well as committing to allocating resources, collaborating across sectors, and remaining accountable for progress.

An area in the south of a Cambridgeshire city is set to get four new schools in a bid to stop schools in the area becoming oversubscribed. Great Haddon, a new neighbourhood next to Yaxley, Peterborough, is set to get three new primary schools and one secondary school.

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A forecast presented to Peterborough City Council has suggested school admissions in the city's growing southern townships are likely to become oversubscribed in the near future.

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At a meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee on March 16, the head of the council's Admissions, Attendance & Transport Service, Libby Walker, delivered a report outlining how pressures on school admissions will impact the city's primary and secondary schools over the coming years.

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Ms Walker said: "The place pressures are all currently within Peterborough South Secondary," adding there were also "place pressures for the Hamptons for Primary."

The data used to create the report forecasts primary school admission figures across the city's North, Central, West, Hamptons, Ortons, Rural East, Rural West, and Stanground/Fletton/Woodston areas. Secondary school admission figures are set within the North, South and Central planning areas of the city.

Ms Walker said: "We can see that there is going to be huge developments within Hampton and Great Haddon – with the building of just over 7,000 homes – [so] we are expecting there to be more children within the city.

"We will be mitigating that because Great Haddon itself will run three primary schools and a seven formal entry secondary school so that will mitigate those place pressures."

Great Haddon Secondary School (GHSS) is due to open in 2029. Similarly, the ground has already been broken on the 420-place Great Haddon Primary School.

"We've already gone out and started building the first Great Haddon Primary School," Ms Walker confirmed, "which will be receiving some children in September 2026."

During discussions, Councillor Hemraj (Lab) shared her concerns about new schools opening in the south of the city leading to potential school closures elsewhere, citing the closure of Hereward Community College in 2007 as an example: "Are we going to end up in a situation like that in years to come?

"We're certainly not looking to close any secondary schools within the city."

Ms Walker replied, adding: "We are looking at alternative ways to utilise schools should we need to."

The council has previously bought fencing for part of the land, which remains in storage

A long-running dispute over a school field which raised safeguarding concerns could be settled. Peterborough City Council's cabinet will be asked to consider a way forward in a dispute about land forming part of the Ken Stimpson Academy site in Werrington on Tuesday, March 24.

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The land in question remains open for community use, but due to safeguarding concerns the school is not using it for physical education and other outdoor activities. It is the only school in Peterborough without a fence around its playing fields.

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Locals have argued that the land should remain unfenced and accessible to the public. The 4Cs Academy Trust, which runs the school, says the land needs to be fenced for reasons including safeguarding concerns.

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The land in question is designated for education. The Department for Education has confirmed that this designation cannot be changed.

The council has previously bought fencing for part of the land, which remains in storage. At the upcoming Cabinet meeting, members will be asked to agree the following recommendations:

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A cabinet meeting last October saw members ask council officers to seek an adjournment of judicial proceedings brought against the council by the 4Cs Academy Trust. This related to a full council decision from March 2025 which tried to demise a smaller area of land than the area designated as education land to the school.

Cabinet members also asked council officers to negotiate with the Academy Trust on a lease which excluded a strip of land which could remain available for public recreational use. Following discussion between the council and the 4Cs Trust, cabinet will now be asked to make a decision which aims to bring the dispute to an end.

Councillor Katy Cole, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “After many years of procrastination we are close to being able to agree a way forward. It is so important, for the children of the school, that we do not allow any further delay.

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“I would like to thank officers for taking Cabinet members’ instructions last October and finding a way forward with the academy trust. The proposed approach will allow pupils to once again access the outdoor space, whilst also attempting to balance the needs of residents by allowing a sizeable strip of land to remain in community use for dog walking and other activities.

“This would be in addition to other areas of open space in this part of Werrington and a Community Use Agreement which will allow the community to use the land known as Area C at specified times after school and at weekends.

“The recommendations to Cabinet look to meet the needs of all parties – the school, its pupils and the residents - but it is also the best option for taxpayers as a whole as it avoids what we know could have been a very costly Judicial Review process running into tens of thousands.”

Once a decision is made, the fencing currently in storage will be used. It is expected additional fencing will be needed to secure the entire proposed area.