Council urged to buy unfinished hotel
A cash-strapped council is being recommended to buy an unfinished hotel to protect money it has already invested into it.
Construction of the Hilton in Peterborough ground to a halt after the developers fell into administration.
An extraordinary meeting of Peterborough City Council's cabinet has been called for next week.
Councillors will be asked whether to support a bid to buy it - and reject a third-party offer that has been submitted.
The hotel is part of the wider regeneration of the Fletton Quays area of the city.
The authority previously said it needed to continue to invest in the hotel to recoup money it had already put in.
With interest, a loan it gave to the developers, now stands at nearly £17m.
The council stressed the credit bid for the hotel would be made using the funds from the existing loan and no new money spent.
A further £10m has been earmarked by the authority for future construction work on the site.
Dennis Jones, Labour leader of the council, said: “Owning the hotel will allow us to see the development through to completion and benefit from the return of our loan and a fantastic new hotel facility for Peterborough.
"The alternative is that we walk away and lose most of, if not all of our investment.
“Having a Hilton hotel in the city would be a huge asset and therefore I am pleased that Hilton remains committed to the development and to Peterborough.”
'Jury is out'
Toby Wood, vice-chairman of Peterborough's Civic Society, said the currently unfinished development looked "really sad."
"There are boards on it saying this is going to be finished months ago and it is still not," he added.
"Peterborough people are straightforward - they want to see things happen and they want to know their money is being spent wisely. They want to see transparency."
He admitted the "jury is out" on whether the hotel would be a good investment.
"We want somebody from the council to tell us exactly what is happening, why this money is being spent, what is the advantage, and then we might all understand," he pleaded.
A further report into the hotel will be considered by the council's cabinet in July if the purchase takes place.
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