Work starts to demolish shopping centre

Work demolishing the existing buildings is due to last until the spring

Demolition work to raze a shopping centre for a new £350m development has got under way on a "historic day", a council said.

Anglia Square in Norwich is being bulldozed and will be replaced with 1,100 homes, retail and leisure spaces.

The precinct - built in the late 1960s and early 1970s - was bought by Norwich City Council for £5.6m in December after a housing developer pulled the plug on a £300m regeneration scheme.

Councillors and business leaders gathered to watch as demolition equipment moved in, with Labour council leader Mike Stonard saying it was a "huge day, a historic day — it's the culmination of a lot of hard work".

Mike Stonard said the redevelopment would be "fantastic" for the whole of Norwich

The authority has previously said £34m of funding provided by the government would cover the purchase, as well as the costs of demolition and developing plans.

"This site has been in decline for several decades," Stonard told BBC Look East.

"The private sector has tried to develop it and it's not been viable; it's failed.

"The council has bought the site and we're going to make it happen."

Councillors, business leaders and demolition workers gathered at the site

Demolition work is expected to last until spring and builders will then move on to the site.

Stonard said 350 homes — mainly flats — would be built in the first two phases and half of that development would be made up of social and affordable homes.

Designs and planning permission have yet to be made for the rest of the housing scheme.

The council leader added that the regeneration would be "fantastic" for the area, and he hoped it would have a "knock-on effect" for the entire city.

Green councillor Martin Schmierer said he wanted the right levels of social and affordable housing to be built at every phase

Aviva is an investment partner in the project, which spans an 11-acre site including car parks and a former government office block.

There have been calls for later phases of the housing development to incorporate the same levels of affordable homes.

Martin Schmierer, Green councillor for the Mancroft ward which covers Anglia Square, said the area was one of the more relatively deprived parts of the city and it had to be acknowledged by developers.

"The new development needs to meet the needs of the community, both in terms of the retail offer and also in the housing offer," he said.

"The council needs to ensure there is a large proportion of affordable and social housing fitted into the development and at the moment we are getting mixed messages."

Shipping containers, based on box parks in other cities, will be situated on a car park for local shoppers while building work is under way at Anglia Square