Norwich planning: housing need up 34%, supply at 4.85 years

Norwich adopted a new local plan on 12 March 2024. Nine months later the government changed how housing need is calculated, and the plan stopped being enough. The councils are now writing another one, and in the gap between the two the city cannot demonstrate the housing land supply the rules require.

That is the whole of Norwich planning in 2026, and it is why speculative applications on land nobody planned to build on are landing across Greater Norwich.

What the adopted plan actually says

The Greater Norwich Local Plan covers Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk together and runs from 2018 to 2038. Norwich City Council adopted it on 12 March 2024, South Norfolk on 25 March and Broadland on 28 March.

Its housing requirement is 40,541 homes, the minimum local housing need figure under the standard method as it stood when the plan was written. Against that, Policy 1 provides for 45,041 homes, an 11% buffer built in to cover sites that fail to come forward. The plan also targets around 33,000 additional jobs and allocates about 360 hectares of employment land.

The share that falls on Norwich is the number most people miss. Housing is distributed through a settlement hierarchy, and the top tier, the Norwich urban area, takes 27,958 of the 45,041 homes, 62% of the total. That takes the urban area from 106,100 homes in 2018 to 134,058, a 26% increase. The urban area is not the same as the city council’s boundary: it means Norwich plus the built-up parts of Colney, Costessey, Cringleford, Drayton, Easton, Hellesdon, Old Catton, Sprowston, Taverham, Thorpe St Andrew and Trowse, plus the Growth Triangle.

Why a two-year-old plan is already short

The National Planning Policy Framework published in December 2024 introduced a new standard method for calculating local housing need. For Greater Norwich it raises the annual figure to around 2,590 homes a year, against about 1,930 under the method used when the plan was written. That is a 34% increase, and national policy requires plans to be brought into line when need rises like that.

The adopted plan’s own requirement, 40,541 homes over twenty years, is 2,027 a year. The councils’ own report puts that at 78% of the latest housing need figure. The threshold that matters is 80%, and from 1 July 2026 a plan below it has to demonstrate a 20% buffer on its land supply, which in practice means six years of land rather than five.

Greater Norwich has 4.85 years, measured at 1 April 2025 and published by the three councils.

The Norfolk problem underneath all of it

There is a second reason the land supply will not add up, and it is specific to this part of the country. Since a Natural England letter to every Norfolk planning authority in March 2022, development that creates overnight accommodation in the catchments of the River Wensum Special Area of Conservation and the Broads Special Area of Conservation and Ramsar site has had to be nutrient neutral. That covers new homes, student accommodation, care homes and tourist accommodation.

Norwich City Council’s own position is blunt: “Right now, there are no local solutions in place to fix nutrient pollution from new developments. This means the council cannot approve planning applications in affected areas unless it’s clear the development won’t cause harm.”

The councils’ report on the next plan says the lack of a five-year supply in Greater Norwich is “largely due to nutrient neutrality”. Housing land supply here is not mainly an argument about where to draw lines on a map. It is an argument about phosphorus and nitrogen in two protected rivers.

The next plan, and its deadlines

The three councils are preparing the Greater Norwich Local Plan 2045 under the government’s new plan-making system, which runs to a statutory 30-month timetable.

Two things in that timetable are worth watching.

The plan can allocate a new settlement. The councils’ report says commencing now “provides the ideal opportunity for the Greater Norwich authorities to consider allocation of a site or sites for new settlements”, describing it as a long-standing ambition referenced in the adopted plan. Nothing has been chosen, and the Call for Sites responses are the evidence that will shape it.

The plan will look nothing like the last one. Under the new system it will be a single digital, map-based document with measurable outcomes, and it will not repeat national policy. Development management policies plans, area action plans and supplementary planning documents all disappear.

Until that plan is adopted, the March 2024 GNLP remains the plan against which Norwich applications are decided.

Anglia Square: 1,100 homes, and a July deadline

The largest thing happening inside the city boundary is the demolition and rebuilding of Anglia Square, the 1960s shopping precinct north of the river in NR3. After years of failed private schemes, Norwich City Council bought the site itself, from Columbia Threadneedle Investments in December 2024.

The scheme now runs through the Anglia Square Investment Partnership, a joint venture between the city council and Aviva Capital Partners, with £34m from Homes England through the Housing Infrastructure Fund. The council puts the total investment at £350 million across an 11-acre site.

What is consented, under hybrid permission 22/00434/F:

• Up to 1,100 homes, with at least 50% affordable in the first two phases
• Up to 8,000 square metres of retail, office, leisure and community space
• Around 450 parking spaces, weighted to residents, with car club options
• Landscaped gardens, a new neighbourhood centre and new cycle links
• An estimated 3,500 jobs during construction and operation

The council’s own project page notes two dates that matter: construction of the detailed phase must begin by July 2026, and reserved matters applications are due by July 2028.

Demolition has been running through 2026 and has not been smooth. The multi-storey car park came down from 16 February 2026. In June the partnership reported that further asbestos had been found in the QD building as the structure was exposed, delaying demolition of the remaining buildings, and that nesting gulls in the Pitt Street area had affected timing elsewhere on the site. The redundant bridge link from the St Crispin’s Road flyover was taken down from 11 June 2026.

Council leader Lucy Galvin said in June that the partnership remains committed to delivering the scheme and that “we expect building work on new homes for local people to begin in the coming months”. Displaced traders have been offered space in a container village near Magdalen Street.

Anglia Square sits in one of the 10% most deprived areas in England, which is a large part of why the council was willing to take the site on itself.

East Norwich: the bigger one, and the slower one

East Norwich is over 50 hectares of brownfield land where the Wensum meets the Yare, made up of Carrow Works, the former Colman’s and Britvic factory site; the Deal Ground; the May Gurney site; and the Utilities Site north of the Wensum. The city council describes it as allocated for 3,500 new homes and 4,000 jobs.

The adopted plan puts the masterplanned capacity of the whole regeneration area at 3,633 homes, of which 271 sit inside the Broads Authority’s planning area and will come through the Broads local plan. Of the rest, around 3,000 homes are expected to be delivered by 2038, alongside roughly 4,100 full-time equivalent jobs. Policy 7.1 and site allocation STR.01 set the framework.

Delivery runs through the East Norwich Delivery Board, formed in 2022, which brings together Norwich City Council, Norfolk County Council, South Norfolk, Broadland, the Broads Authority and Homes England. Progress since has been masterplanning rather than building. Anything on this site needs a transport assessment, a heritage impact assessment, archaeological evaluation, flood risk work and contamination investigation before it moves, and it has to solve the nutrient neutrality problem like everything else.

How to check an application near you

Norwich City Council runs a standard Idox public access register at planning.norwich.gov.uk. You can search by address, by application number or by the weekly list of newly validated applications. Note that the most recent week is often empty on the validated list while the decided list for the same week is not; that is the council not having validated anything yet, not a broken search.

What it means if you live here

If you own a home in Norwich, the practical consequence of a sub-five-year land supply is that the presumption in favour of sustainable development bites, and sites the local plan never allocated become winnable at appeal. That is the mechanism by which unplanned development arrives, and it will continue until either the nutrient problem is solved or the 2045 plan allocates enough land, which on the current timetable is 2029.

If you are buying, the two places where large numbers of new homes are actually coming are Anglia Square in NR3 and East Norwich along the rivers. Our house prices page sets out what the market looks like around them, and the roads work that all this growth is driving is on the roadworks and travel page.

Frequently asked questions

How many homes will be built in Greater Norwich?

The adopted Greater Norwich Local Plan requires 40,541 homes between 2018 and 2038 and provides for 45,041. The Norwich urban area takes 27,958 of them, 62% of the total. Under the December 2024 method, need has since risen to about 2,590 homes a year across Greater Norwich, so the next plan will require more.

Does Norwich have a five-year housing land supply?

No. The three Greater Norwich councils calculated 4.85 years as at 1 April 2025. Because the adopted plan’s requirement is 78% of the latest housing need figure, a 20% buffer applies from 1 July 2026, so the target is effectively six years.

What is nutrient neutrality and why does it stop building in Norwich?

Natural England requires development creating overnight accommodation in the catchments of the River Wensum and the Broads protected sites to add no extra phosphorus or nitrogen. Norwich City Council says there are currently no local solutions in place, so it cannot approve affected applications unless it is clear they will cause no harm.

When will the new Greater Norwich Local Plan be adopted?

Adoption is currently targeted for around April 2029. The Gateway 1 self-assessment, which starts a statutory 30-month process, is due by 30 October 2026.

What is happening at Anglia Square?

Norwich City Council bought the site in December 2024 and is redeveloping it with Aviva Capital Partners for 1,100 homes, at least half of them affordable in the first two phases. Demolition has been under way through 2026, delayed by asbestos found in the QD building and by nesting gulls. Construction of the detailed phase was required to start by July 2026.

How many homes are planned for East Norwich?

The city council says 3,500 homes and 4,000 jobs. The adopted local plan gives a masterplanned capacity of 3,633 homes across the whole area, 271 of them in the Broads Authority area, with around 3,000 expected within Greater Norwich by 2038.

Where can I see planning applications in Norwich?

On the council’s own register at planning.norwich.gov.uk/online-applications, which carries weekly lists of validated and decided applications with full documents.

Sources

• Notice to Commence Plan Making, Greater Norwich authorities, report to the Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Development Panel, 8 April 2026, for the 2,590 and 1,930 housing need figures, the 78% and 80% test, the 20% buffer from 1 July 2026, the nutrient neutrality cause, the new settlement ambition, the 30-month process and the April 2029 adoption target.
• Monitoring the Local Plan, Norwich City Council for the 4.85-year housing land supply at 1 April 2025.
• Adopted Greater Norwich Local Plan, Strategy document for the 40,541 requirement, the 45,041 provision, Table 6, the settlement hierarchy table, the 33,000 jobs and 360 hectares, and the East Norwich capacity of 3,633 homes and 4,100 jobs.
• Adoption, GNLP for the March 2024 adoption dates and the Call for Sites windows.
• Nutrient neutrality, Norwich City Council for the affected habitats, the development types caught and the council’s position on approvals.
• Anglia Square, Norwich City Council for the £350m investment, 11 acres, 1,100 homes, 8,000 square metres, 450 spaces, 3,500 jobs, permission reference 22/00434/F and the July 2026 and July 2028 deadlines.
• Anglia Square development continues, Norwich City Council, 9 June 2026, for the asbestos in the QD building, the nesting gulls and the bridge link demolition, and Major milestone reached in demolition of Anglia Square, 16 February 2026, for the car park demolition and the 50% affordable figure.
• Norwich awarded millions to lead the way on national home building, Norwich City Council, 16 January 2025, for the £34m Homes England grant and the December 2024 purchase from Columbia Threadneedle.
• East Norwich, Norwich City Council for the 50 hectares, 3,500 homes, 4,000 jobs, the four sites and the Delivery Board.
• Norwich City Council planning applications register.

Local plan positions move as documents are published. Everything above was taken from the councils’ own reports and pages on 9 August 2026. Housing land supply figures are recalculated annually and the 4.85-year figure is the published position at 1 April 2025.