Norwich homes stuck in limbo because of anti-pollution rules

Officials have admitted they have been forced to put 67 planning applications on hold because Norwich City Council has not come up with ways to ensure they do not breach tough rules introduced by Natural England.

The revelation has angered small-scale builders who have accused the council of ignoring them at the expense of large-scale developments as it tries to ensure all new housing schemes achieve so-called 'nutrient neutrality', whereby their polluting impact is offset by environmental measures.

Property director Tristan Gordon - who has been waiting for two years for permission to convert offices in St Faith's Lane into three three-bed flats - said: "I've been going back and forth with the city council's planning department and I'm getting increasingly frustrated. People like me have been left in limbo."

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Norwich City Council, along with other Norfolk authorities, was told in March 2022 it would be blocked from agreeing permission for new homes in the catchment areas of the river Wensum and the Broads because of what is known as nutrient neutrality.

The nutrient neutrality rules aim to prevent pollution in areas such as the Broads (Image: © Mike Page all rights reserved. Before any use is made of this image including display, publication, broadcast, syndication...)

Councils were told they could not give new housing the go-ahead until it could be shown measures were in place to prevent schemes adding pollutants to waterways - placing decisions over thousands of homes in limbo.

READ MORE: How two words left Norfolk's plans for thousands of homes in limbo

South Norfolk Council, Broadland Council, Breckland Council and North Norfolk Council have created a joint venture organisation called Norfolk Environmental Credits to try to solve the issue.

That not-for-profit organisation will sell 'credits' to developers, with the money generated used to fund mitigation measures.

Norwich City Council had been part of those discussions, but decided not to join that credit scheme and instead, set up one of its own.

However, that scheme - which hinges on retrofitting council properties to offset nutrient impacts of new builds - focuses on a limited number of priority sites.

Those sites include the council's own former Mile Cross depot, where up to 200 homes are planned, and the Three Score site at Bowthorpe, where nearly 100 are due to be built.

How the new homes at the former Mile Cross depot in Norwich could look (Image: Norwich City Council / Feilden + Mawson)

It had also included the 1,100-home Anglia Square site, before developers Weston Homes pulled out of those plans, but non-priority schemes face a wait to get credits.

The council said it could not give a good estimate of how many proposed homes in Norwich were affected by the issue, but that 67 applications were on hold.

FRUSTRATION OVER DELAYS

Mr Gordon, who runs Cattle Market Street-based ZebraInvest, said he is growing increasingly frustrated the council is not helping smaller developments like his - and has set up a petition calling for speedier action.

Property director Tristan Gordon (Image: Denise Bradley)

He said: "For a long time, I thought the joint venture sounded like a great solution, but then I found out that Norwich isn't part of it, and it only applies to schemes within the Yare catchment area.

"I've been going back and forth with the city council's planning department and I'm getting increasingly frustrated.

"They've told me the council might join the joint venture scheme, but there hasn't been a decision yet.

"In the meantime, people like me are left in limbo. In the eyes of developers, it feels like this hasn't been fixed for us at all - and that means new homes which people need aren't getting permission."

Tristan Gordon applied for permission to convert the former offices in St Faith's Lane into homes almost two years ago (Image: Denise Bradley)

Mr Gordon has started a petition calling for Norwich City Council to join the joint venture at www.change.org/p/request-norwich-city-council-join-norfolk-environmental-credits-joint-venture

WHAT THE COUNCIL SAYS

A spokesman for Norwich City Council said: "The council is actively working to find solutions that mitigate the impact of water pollution from new homes to help meet Natural England’s nutrient neutrality requirements, so that we can approve much-needed new homebuilding projects in the city.

Norwich City Council's City Hall headquarters (Image: Newsquest)

"However, no nutrient neutrality solutions are straightforward and we are considering a range of options to determine the best way forward for Norwich - and this includes whether or not to join the credits scheme with other Norfolk councils.

"We continue to work with our partners and Natural England to resolve this issue as soon as we can, and in the meantime, we encourage people to continue with the submission of pre-application advice requests."

READ MORE: Carrow Works project rejected by Norwich City Council

The farmer was paid almost £1m not to rear pigs on the land near Caistor St Edmund (Image: Denise Bradley)

The Norfolk Environmental Credits scheme has itself attracted controversy, after it emerged it had paid a farmer almost £1m not to farm pigs on his land, near Caistor St Edmund.

The idea behind the move was that it would offset the polluting impact of new homes, by removing a comparative amount of pollution produced by the pigs, which was flowing into the rivers Yare and Tas.