Norwich City Council enters into joint venture with HCA

Norwich City Council and the Government’s housing and regeneration agency the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have signed a ground-breaking partnership which will see £8 million invested in the city over twelve years.

The collaboration and investment agreement establishes a joint venture partnership between the two organisations and makes the regeneration of a number of community and public realm projects possible as well as creating 1300 new homes in the area.

These sites will be jointly developed and the surplus which comes out of these will be reinvested jointly into more regeneration schemes in the city.

The first project to benefit under the agreement will be the restoration of Norwich city centre’s war memorial gardens, which are currently closed and are to be upgraded as part of a wider housing development.

Leader of the council Steve Morphew said: “The signing of this historic deal means the long awaited war memorial project is to come to fruition and - when put in the context of 1300 new homes, 1800 new jobs and long-term investment for Norwich - this is a very proud day for the city.”

Work on the War Memorial is due to start on site shortly and is expected to finish in 2011.