It is one of the biggest housing projects in Norwich for decades, bringing thousands of homes and jobs to the city. Now the council boss in charge of the East Norwich Masterplan talks to GEORGE THOMPSON about the next stages as it takes a significant step forward.

The East Norwich Masterplan (ENM) is a blueprint to guide development on major city sites which is expected to bring around 3,600 homes and 4,000 jobs.

And early next month Norwich City Council's cabinet is being asked to sign off on the latest stage and move the project forward.

The scheme covers four key areas in the east of Norwich – Carrow Works, home of the former Colman's and Britvic factories; the Deal Ground and May Gurney sites in Trowse; and the Utilities site between Thorpe Hamlet and Whitlingham.

We spoke to Mike Stonard, the Norwich City Council lead, behind the project to find out what's coming next.

What's happening?

“The proposals have moved forward significantly, and momentum is being accelerated by all those involved who are keen to see this vision for homes, employment and leisure realised, creating a new vibrant and sustainable urban quarter adjacent to the city centre," the cabinet member said.

On June 8, the cabinet will be asked to sign off on stage two and an additional planning document, which will help give legal weight to the project.

What next?

Alongside signing off stage two of the ENM, the cabinet will be asked to move the scheme on and continue to develop the evidence base.

"We now go on to stage three which will be led by Homes England [a government agency] - they are a key partner.

"We will be looking for financial support and ensuring the whole project is viable. Homes England is used to projects of this scale and we will help with project management.

"When you have got four sites that adjoin each other we need to make sure all the infrastructure - transport, electricity, water - are planned together for the economy of scale and for consistency."

By next year, Mr Stonard hopes to have the scheme included in the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP) - which outlines where development could be acceptable in Norwich- giving the scheme weight in planning law.

What will it mean for Norwich?

The council's ambition is to create a new urban quarter, which uses low energy solutions, provides good-quality walking, cycling and public transport links to the city and the Broads and provides a good mix of housing types and tenures.

"It's not often you get brownfield sites that you can develop like this," he said, "Where we don't have environmental or heritage constraints in place it is a blank slate.

"We want to make sure it is as sustainable as possible.

"Where there is the heritage building we can use them to create some historic streetscapes which will be really nice."

The ENM also aims to ensure flood mitigation, climate resilience and green infrastructures are designed into the proposals from the start.

The proposals also hope to deliver a community hub, primary school, health facilities shops and other local services, as well as green spaces and improved access to the River Wensum.

What about nutrient neutrality?

Officials and councillors have been trying to assess the impact of a recent directive from Natural England for local authorities to ensure all new homes are "nutrient neutral" and do not add harmful substances to rivers and wetlands.

The move has led to uncertainty over proposed housing developments.

But Mr Stonard hopes the ENM will avoid any serious impact because there is time to work out mitigation measures.

"We hope we can resolve this issue by the spring and we are working with other councils affected and talking to Natural England."

What's the scale of the development?

"It's a massive development and that's why we have put so much work into it - it's the biggest development in the East of England," he said.

At 50 Hectares, Mr Stonard said the site is the size of more than 80 football pitches.

"Other than Carrow House the rest of it is owned by private companies. They could all go off on their own but that won't provide coherence and infrastructure to support it.

"Getting them onside is so important, they have come round the table with us alongside people like Network Rail, the Broads Authority and Homes England."

What sort of jobs will be created?

While Mr Stonard said he hopes to see high tech jobs like computer graphic design, he promised a mix of jobs will be created by the plans.