Housebuilder Weston Homes is pursuing a High Court challenge following housing secretary Robert Jenrick’s refusal of its 1,250-home Anglia Square development.
Jenrick ignored the planning inspector’s recommendations and has refused the £271m called-in Norwich development.
He said the development would impact nearby heritage assets and raised concerns over design flaws, arguing that the “bulk and massing… is not sympathetic to its context”.
The scheme includes a 20-storey tower, hotel, cinema, new shops, public realm and car park.
Bob Weston, chairman and chief executive at Weston Homes (pictured), said: “We intend to fight Robert Jenrick’s undemocratic and commercially unjustified decision in the High Court and seek to get his ruling overturned.”
Weston said the decision flies in the face of the government’s “build, build, build” agenda and pledge to support brownfield development for housing. He stressed that Norwich City Council had approved the plans, which are also backed by £15m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund.
“The government is not being co-ordinated, just as one body offers one of the highest levels of HIF funding in the country, the secretary of state turns away the scheme being offered funding,” said Weston.
In a furious tirade, he added: “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.
“The message it sends out to all housebuilders is – ‘don’t invest, don’t make planning applications, don’t plan for the future because this Conservative government doesn’t support housing or the economy.”
A spokesman for the ministry for housing, communities and local government said: “After carefully considering the evidence, the secretary of state has concluded that permission for this scheme should be rejected.”
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