I was pleased to see Bob Weston taking Cllr Jamie Osborn to task for his remarks over Anglia Square but disappointed he needed to do it. 

It is immensely damaging and dangerous to throw around allegations that imply corruption and cronyism when your evidence is simply that you don’t like what’s going on. 

Councillors are perfectly within their rights to express opinions and dissent - I do it all the time. What I never do is use unfounded smears that mislead. This is the first time I have ever seen a councillor called out and blamed like this. It is nothing to be proud of.

Who should we believe? Weston Homes are not some come lately speculative developer and Norwich City Council has many years of development success. 

I can vouch for the difficulty in getting a scheme off the ground for Anglia Square. The one I was pulling together when I was council Leader collapsed with the 2008 financial crisis.

Sixteen years later and the scheme that arose from those ashes now joins it.

Sadly the city council is unlikely to ever have the money to buy and redevelop the site without a huge amount of government help. In the absence of that, Anglia Square continues to deteriorate or a private developer needs an attractive investment with a sensible return. 

There’s no point wishing there was another way. You can’t just stump up a couple of hundred million quid with wishful thinking.

Buying Anglia Square isn’t the problem - that’s relatively cheap. Clearing the site is extremely costly and it will take a number of years before anything new is built. All the time there will be outgoings but no income. 

Those would have to be met from council tax without government or private sector funding.

Without other funding the council would simply go broke before a brick was laid.

It would be as irresponsible as alleging that trying to make a scheme viable for a developer is corrupt of negligent. 

A developer takes the risk and may have cash flow a council won’t have - and they need to make a reasonable profit. Government funding from whatever government has to be financed through borrowing so isn’t free. 

The Tory government hasn’t exactly been kind to Norwich and will leave an incoming Labour government facing financial problems. It’s going to be a tough call getting the right package to get Anglia Square back on track. Great ideas are in plentiful supply, but cash and a plan to deliver them not so much.

And the Green contribution? Other developers will now look at Anglia Square and other investment opportunities in Norwich - there are plenty, and ask themselves whether there are competent partners who can deliver for the city or whether they will be hampered by those wilfully misleading.

No government is going to support big projects in the city if elected representatives act irresponsibly. The more the credibility of a competent council and decent developers is undermined the more likely we are to fall foul of those really trying to rip us off. I’ve had enough stand-offs with developers to know you bargain hard with the good ones and try to keep the others on the outside.

A reminder that both Cllr Osborn and his city Green group Leader Cllr Galvin work in communications for a charity whose CEO is the Green Party Leader (www.mcsfoundation.org.uk/people)  Both started work for the charity in mid 2022. Both are entitled to opinions, neither suggests any background or experience in any sort of large scale scheme.

There are no easy solutions to Anglia Square but loose talk will make it a lot harder. Misleading attacks on investors and the city council leadership damages the reputation and future potential to attract vital investment into Norwich from the government and private investors.

The unpalatable truth is that decisions needed to get Anglia Square and other developments moving in Norwich are going to be hard, require commitment and compromise, and need to be in the hands of those who will do their best to deliver the best possible deal for the city.

The city speaks to its council with a powerful voice and needs a council that promotes our Fine City and engages with realism and honesty rather than fact free assertions of wrongdoing.

Steve Morphew is Labour Group Leader at Norfolk County Council and  Leader of Norwich City Council 2006-11