Homes England will help turn shopping centre into a new neighbourhood
Norwich City Council has acquired the Anglia Square Shopping Centre for a 1,100-home scheme.
Retail, office and leisure spaces with landscaped gardens, a new neighbourhood centre and cycling links across the city are also included in the project outline.
The site was put up for sale earlier this year after housebuilder Weston Homes abandoned its development plans for the site. It cited several governmental factors that impacted the project’s viability, including a call from former housing minister Robert Jenrick to overturn the 2018 local planning consent and the planning inspector’s recommendation to approve
The council made the purchase from Columbia Threadneedle Investments using Homes England funding. It has asked for a further grant to fund the demolition and infrastructure required to proceed with the project.
Anglia Square previously housed a cinema that premiered the Alan Partridge film Alpha Papa. The council said it will work with existing traders in the shopping centre to “understand their requirements and provide business support to assist them.”
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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.
“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.”
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