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Search the Public Notice PortalCity Hall is under fire over delays to a flagship housing project, which remains unbuilt nearly two years after the first people were supposed to be moving in.
Councillors are set to quiz Norwich City Council officials over why the transformation of the Mile Cross depot has stagnated.
Plans first emerged to transform the industrial site into housing more than a decade ago and officials initially said the first homes would be completed in 2024.
How the Mile Cross depot redevelopment in Norwich could look (Image: Norwich City Council / Feilden + Mawson)
But two years later, building work has still not started on the homes themselves, although preliminary construction work to prepare the site has been completed, such as demolition and drainage work.
To understand what has happened, a cross-party panel will scrutinise the project, which aims to build up to 170 houses overall, this week.
A series of questions have been levelled at officials, who have responded in a report ahead of the meeting.
Officers have blamed the slow progress on "difficult ground conditions" and have called the site "extremely complex" due to it being brownfield land.
The Mile Cross depot boarded up agead of the development (Image: Google)
This means extra work had to be completed to remove hazardous materials following the demolition of the depot buildings.
While progress has been slow, building work for the first phase of 67 homes is expected to begin in October 2026.
This phase will be made up entirely of social housing.
Once building work begins in October, it is expected to take between 18 to 24 months for the homes to be completed.
What the Mile Cross development could look like (Image: Norwich City Council / Feilden + Mawson)
For the 3,300 people on waiting lists for council housing, the new housing at Mile Cross cannot come soon enough.
Officials say delivering new homes in Norwich has been "severely affected by challenging economic circumstances, with rising build costs creating viability concerns".
Water pollution rules also caused problems in new housing getting planning permission.
While housing pressures have become increasingly acute in the county, officers denied the delay to the Mile Cross development has had any effect on rates of homelessness and rough sleeping, saying any harm has been "negligible".
The scrutiny committee will meet on Thursday to discuss the building work delays.
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