Council votes to sell pigeon-infested Hilton Hotel

The Hilton Garden Inn in Fletton Quays remains unfinished despite works starting eight years ago

Councillors have voted in favour of selling a Hilton Hotel which has been unfinished for nearly a decade and has a significant pigeon infestation.

In 2017, Peterborough City Council borrowed £15m from the government to loan to developers for the project in Fletton Quays.

Construction stalled in 2020 and Fletton Quays Hotel Ltd, the company responsible for building the Hilton, went into administration in 2023.

A cabinet meeting on Thursday heard the sale could take between six to nine months.

A rooftop bar and al fresco terrace overlooking the River Nene were included in the hotel design and were expected to be ready in 2019.

But eight years on, the 160-bedroom hotel remains unfinished and unoccupied, with major works pending, including lifts and gyms.

Mohammed Jamil, cabinet member for finance and corporate governance, said that for the council to complete the project itself, it would need "substantial additional borrowing".

He said earlier this year a preferred bidder at the "last minute pulled out on us", but he was "confident a sale could be achieved".

"This topic has occupied my time possibly more than anything else since taking office," the Labour councillor told the meeting.

Lib Dem councillor Christian Hogg said: "This is something that as a council we should have got rid of some time ago, but today is the next best option.

"At the moment it just seems to be deteriorating in terms of the value so we need to absolutely get this gone and, more importantly, delivered."

The scheme began under a Conservative administration and their group leader previously said the project failed because of the Covid pandemic and building material costs rising "three times".