Broadway Malyan鈥檚 拢271m Norwich scheme thrown out by Robert Jenrick
The volume housebuilder behind Broadway Malyan鈥檚 拢271m proposal for 1,200 homes and a 20-storey tower in the centre of Norwich has vowed to appeal after the communities secretary kicked it out.
Robert Jenrick overruled his planning inspector today to reject Weston Homes鈥� highly controversial Anglia Square proposals, which protestors have been fighting for three years.
Jenrick said he based his decision on the proposal鈥檚 鈥渆xcessive size in relation to its context鈥� and his belief the scheme 鈥渄oes not demonstrate the exceptional quality required by policy鈥�.
Weston immediately vowed to take him to the High Court seeking a statutory review under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
It issued a punchy statement saying it was 鈥渃urrently taking the highest legal advice available鈥� and accused Jenrick of overturning local democracy.
Norwich council approved the plans in 2018 before protestors secured a public inquiry arguing the scheme would do lasting damage to Norwich鈥檚 medieval core. Planning inspector David Prentis supported the council鈥檚 decision.
Marcus Binney, executive president of Save Britain鈥檚 Heritage, which fought the scheme with Historic England and local groups, hailed the decision saying: 鈥淭he secretary of state has repelled the vandals at the city gate. Norwich has been spared the most monstrous carbuncle that ever threatened to deface an English cathedral city.
鈥淭he promoters of this scheme, the city council, Columbia Threadneedle and Weston Homes, must now look at alternatives, notably the excellent scheme by Ash Sakula Architects commissioned by Historic England.鈥�
Ash Sakula鈥檚 proposal would provide 595 homes built around traditional streets and low-rise terraces.
The Anglia Square proposal, for 1,200 homes, a hotel, cinema, multi-storey car parks, a place of worship and ground-floor retail and commercial space, was intended for a central shopping centre site incorporating the brutalist Sovereign House development.
It sits in the City Centre Conservation Area and is surrounded by a number of grade I and II listed buildings.
Binney added: 鈥淭he city council must also note Mr Jenrick鈥檚 concern at the number of single-aspect flats being proposed [in the Broadway Malan scheme] 鈥� this is rabbit hutch housing that is completely unacceptable.鈥�
But Weston Homes chief executive Bob Weston hit back, branding Jenrick鈥檚 decision 鈥渦ndemocratic and commercially unjustified鈥� and accused him of siding with 鈥渢he NIMBY brigade who would rather see Norwich city centre die than support a future for the city鈥檚 economy鈥�.
He added: 鈥淗ow does our prime minister Boris Johnson, who is very vocal that housebuilders need to 鈥榖uild, build, build鈥� in order to hit the government鈥檚 housing delivery target of 300,000 homes, justify his housing minister鈥檚 anti-urban-renewal and anti-housebuilder decision? I thought our PM liked to position himself as Boz-the-Builder. Instead his short-sighted housing minister is setting the PM up as the enemy of the housebuilding industry.
鈥淭he message it sends out to all housebuilders is 鈥� 鈥榙on鈥檛 invest, don鈥檛 make planning applications, don鈥檛 plan for the future because this Conservative government doesn鈥檛 support housing or the economy鈥�.鈥�
He said his firm remained committed to Anglia Square but warned the decision jeopardised 拢15m of government Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) money already allocated to accelerate development on the site.
Henrietta Billings, director of Save, said the decision provided 鈥渁 huge opportunity for a more enlightened development approach to now come forward鈥�.
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