The Northern City Centre

The policy therefore promotes high density, housing-led mixed-use redevelopment of Anglia Square and surrounding vacant land. Redevelopment proposals should also include retailing, employment, community and leisure facilities.

Regeneration of Anglia Square is also intended to be the catalyst for substantial investment in, and further regeneration of, the wider northern city centre. As a result, the whole of the northern city centre area as defined in map 9 is identified on the Key Diagram as a Strategic regeneration area.

The northern city centre has been declared a neighbourhood area for planning purposes. This policy provides the strategic context for any more detailed plans for the area.

Anglia Square has been subject to comprehensive mixed-use regeneration proposals which Norwich City Council resolved to approve in December 2018. The Secretary of State “called-in” the application for determination and refused it notwithstanding a recommendation to approve it. The decision gives considerable comfort that medium to high density residential led mixed-use development in this location is appropriate and should be part of this plan. The previous scheme required support to be viable for delivery.  It is likely that any future scheme will also require public support to ensure implementation.

To provide strategy on the wide range of planning issues affecting the city centre, the remainder of the city centre element of the policy is divided into six sections on: the economy; retail and main town centre uses; leisure, culture, entertainment and the visitor economy; housing; the natural and built environment and access and transportation.

The policy seeks to attract and retain employment in the city centre by boosting employment sectors identified by evidence in the GVA study as having most growth potential, in particular knowledge based and digital creative industries, providing for a suitable range and choice of employment premises particularly in locations which are well related to transport hubs, offer good linkages with existing and expanding business networks and provide high value employment opportunities as part of the regeneration of key sites and areas. A key part of retaining employment in the city centre will be to reverse the significant loss of office employment.  To this end the city centre policy provides the basis for the subsequent introduction of an Article 4 direction or directions to manage the loss of office floorspace¹⁰⁴ and ensure a supply of suitable sites and premises for the of key city cent employment growth sectors, most particularly digital and creative industries.

Retail and other main town centre uses policy set out in policy 7.1 provides flexibility and recognises the trend for changing uses and functions in city centres. The aim is to ensure the centre provides an attractive location in which people can experience a complementary range of different uses, services and activities, including retailing. The Norwich City Centre Retail Strategy¹⁰⁵ prepared by the Norwich Business Improvement District endorses this approach. It acknowledges that a vibrant, diverse and accessible offer providing a range of different experiences for the visitor, alongside promotion of a strong and distinctive sense of place and identity, will be key to the long-term economic success of Norwich city centre. 

Policy 6 places the city centre retail area at the top of the retail hierarchy, with the large district centres at Riverside and at Anglia Square, Magdalen Street and St. Augustines providing a complementary role and meeting more day to day needs. The extent of, and more detailed policies for, the city centre retail area, and the primary and secondary retail areas within it, along with the large district centres, are set out in existing development management policies

The GVA study floorspace calculates that 11,000-15,000 square metres of additional comparison retail floorspace will be required in the Norwich urban area by 2027. However, in the light of potentially rapid further changes in comparison retailing it is premature to allocate any new retail sites. This will be revisited in the review of the plan when the future of retailing becomes clearer. The study forecasts no significant need for additional convenience retail floorspace by 2027.

 In view of the rapidly changing retail picture and, based on recent trends, the possibility of further losses in retail representation, the reservation of a specific site for retail development is inappropriate. Any additional comparison retail floorspace will primarily be accommodated through the intensification of retail use on existing sites.

Development to support speciality, independent and small-scale retailing is encouraged by the policy. This allows for additional convenience goods floorspace to be provided for through smaller food store development to support new mixed-use development and regeneration. 

The policy also prioritises vibrancy, activity and diversity of uses in defined retail areas outside of the defined primary retail area, permitting the use of redundant floorspace for other uses, including the re-use of upper floors.

The policy supports the delivery of more high-quality housing on suitable sites, generally as part of mixed-use development, except where including housing in redevelopment could affect the commercial vitality and viability of the centre.  It also supports the expansion of further and higher education facilities and promotes development to augment the supply of purpose-built accommodation for students in the city centre.

The policy encourages the development of new leisure and cultural facilities, hotels and other visitor accommodation to support the delivery of a broader range of activities in the city centre and strengthen Norwich City Centre’s role as a visitor and cultural destination.

To supplement policy 3 for the built and natural environment, policy 7.1 promotes innovative design with reference to the National design guide¹⁰⁶ and the City Centre Conservation Area Appraisal, particularly at gateways, and supports further delivery of the riverside walk and the River Wensum Strategy.

To support the above, development is required to assist in implementing accessibility, legibility and permeability measures within the city centre. These are likely to comprise improvements to the public transport, walking and cycling networks to enhance connectivity, including public realm works. This will be led by the Transport for Norwich strategy. 

¹⁰³Venuescore 2017, ‘UK Shopping Venue Rankings (2017)’

¹⁰⁴Current Use Class E(g (i)) (Previously falling under B1(a) prior to 1^st September 2020)

¹⁰⁵Norwich City Centre Future Retail Strategy,The Retail Group on behalf of Norwich BID, June 2019

¹⁰⁶https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-design-guide