Anglia Square Plan Revived

Norwich City Council has received millions of pounds of public money to purchase Anglia Square, and completed the transaction in December. This comes after the site’s previous owners abandoned their £300 million renovation project, citing increased financial pressures making the project non-viable, despite having previously won planning permission for their scheme. The taxpayer has now picked up the bill, and the city council hopes to begin the works to build 1100 houses, alongside commercial and office space, soon.

Plans to regenerate Anglia Square have been on-and-off for over two decades, so news that work will finally get underway will be welcomed by many who see the sight as an eyesore upon our city landscape. City Hall has said it wishes to “work with existing traders to understand their requirements and provide business support to assist them”. Only time will tell how successful this will be. Previous attempts at regeneration using government grants haven’t been well managed by Norwich City Council – namely the Carrow House scheme for which they received £2 million from the Towns Fund. Yet 5 years later it sat empty and unused.

The Lib Dems on Norwich City Council said:
“We’re pleased that progress will finally be made on Anglia Square after all these years. Residents should be hopeful of the scheme’s success, but with many of the fine details yet to be revealed, we will be doing all we can to monitor the Labour administration’s decisions, and hold them to account as it progresses.”