Council acquires shopping centre as part of plan to get stalled 1,100-home scheme underway

However, Mike Stonard, the leader of Norwich City Council, said it would look to increase the allocation of affordable housing to “at least 25%” in any future development of Anglia Square.

The council’s acquisition of the site was completed in partnership with Homes England and comes after years of unsuccessful development attempts.

Earlier this year, Weston Homes was forced to cancel its plans for a £300m redevelopment of the site for a number of reasons, despite obtaining planning approval. It called the government a “core contributor” to delays and rising costs.

One of the problems was unforeseen planning delays. When he was housing minister, Robert Jenrick decided to “overturn the local planning consent” granted in 2018, which led to an additional 12 months of consultation.

Weston Homes also highlighted that the “financial viability of the redevelopment of the Anglia Square was always challenging”, which is why the site was allocated £15m of Marginal Viability Funding from Homes England’s Housing Infrastructure Fund.

Speaking about the successful sale of the site, Pauline Schaffer, director of infrastructure funding at Homes England, said: “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.

“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.”

Norwich City Council declined to disclose the cost of the purchase to Inside Housing.

Mr Stonard said: “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.”