Norwich City Council is stepping in after Weston Homes abandoned its £300m scheme in February this year after eight years of planning and just a month before demolition of the old shopping centre had been scheduled to begin.
Weston’s plans had been set to deliver up to 1,100 new homes over the 4.6 hectare site as well as up to 8,000 sq m of retail, office and leisure floorspace and a community hall.
The city council is progressing broadly similar plans, with backing from Homes England.
Funding for the purchase of the site from Columbia Threadneedle Investments has been provided to the council via Homes England. A bid for further grant funding from Homes England has been made to enable the demolition and infrastructure required to then move forward.
Councillor Mike Stonard, leader of Norwich City Council said: “The council has grasped this golden opportunity on behalf of the people of Norwich to bring a bright new future to Anglia Square and ensure it’s developed as quickly as possible to benefit the people of Norwich. We are now in the driving seat to create a new Anglia Square with affordable homes, diverse retail and leisure outlets, a new neighbourhood centre, and well-paid jobs for local people.”
Pauline Schaffer, director of infrastructure funding at Homes England, added: “Anglia Square is an example of Norwich City Council’s ambition to revitalise the city centre and repurpose brownfield land into new homes for the local community. This key regeneration area for Norwich, has the potential to have a huge transformational impact on the city. We have worked closely with the council to support the successful acquisition; this shows how investment from Homes England is helping to unlock new homes and thriving places people can be proud of.”
Weston Homes said that there were seven separate factors impacting on the financial viability of its project, forcing it to withdraw: planning delays, Covid fallout, nutrient neutrality issues, Homes England red tape, build cost inflation, community infrastructure levy and new constraints imposed by the Building Safety Act. [See previous report here.]
