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House builder pulls 1,100-home scheme amid claim that government intervention made it unviable
A house builder has cancelled its plans for a 1,100-home regeneration scheme, blaming the government as “core contributor” to delays and rising costs.
Weston Homes has pulled its plans for the redevelopment of the 1960s Anglia Square shopping centre in Norwich.
Over eight years, a total of £7.5m of capital expenditure had been invested in the scheme, the Essex-based house builder said, which would have provided 1,100 new homes, as well as retail, office and leisure space.
Weston said that “national government intervention” in the scheme had led to planning delays and related costs, making it unviable.
After initial proposals were given planning consent in 2018 by Norwich City Council, then-housing secretary Robert Jenrick called in the scheme and overturned the decision, calling the plans “excessive”. A revised scheme received a resolution to grant planning in April 2023.
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Weston also highlighted inflexibility around Homes England funding as a reason why it axed the scheme. The site was allocated £15m of marginal viability funding from the government agency’s Housing Infrastructure Fund, but due to planning delays, the funding rules mean it will now only be able to draw down £7m of funding.
Homes England has offered a nine-month extension, Weston said, which was “very welcome” but will “only go part way” to help the funding being spent in time.
During this period, in March 2022, a nutrient neutrality directive was also issued by Natural England that blocked the building of new homes in Norfolk until nutrient mitigation schemes were in place.
The government had planned to axe the rules around nutrient neutrality, but members of the House of Lords voted against the amendment in September last year.
Additionally, Weston highlighted how new design guidelines in the Building Safety Act 2022 will result in the loss of 100 homes within the scheme due to the required redesign of various buildings.
Build cost inflation grew the cost of the development, the house builder said, while proposed office and retail space in the scheme became less viable to due to rise of home-working and online shopping after the coronavirus pandemic.
Bob Weston, chair and managing director of Weston Homes, said he was “gutted” to pull out of the scheme and that Weston had “bent over backwards to make this work”.
He added: “The core contributor to a lot of the issues in this saga is the Conservative government, which seems to have no understanding of the importance of supporting the housebuilding industry, regional cities and local communities in the UK.”
Last month, another major regeneration scheme in Purfleet, Essex, was abandoned as a housing association and council terminated their development agreement.
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “In November 2020, the then secretary of state refused planning permission for the redevelopment of Anglia Square, and his reasons were set out in a published letter.
“Housebuilding, however, remains a government priority and we are on track to deliver one million homes this parliament.”
Homes England has been contacted for a response.
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