Hotel among major developments planned for Norwich in 2023

Norwich City Council hopes to move forward with plans to build 3,500 homes in 2023

A multi-million pound hotel is among a host of planned developments set to transform Norwich city centre in 2023.

Work started on the 91-bed Travelodge at Chamberlain House in recent months and the hotel is due to open in 2023.

Hay Hill in the city centre will also be transformed with more cultural activity space, seating, water features and planters, the city council said.

The authority also hopes a project to build 3,500 homes in the city will be brought forward.

The East Norwich Masterplan is expected to create 6,000 jobs in the city, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said, with stage two in the project signed off last summer.

It includes four key sites - Carrow Works, home of the former Colman's and Britvic factories; the Deal Ground and May Gurney sites in Trowse; and the Utilities site between Thorpe Hamlet and Whitlingham.

In 2023, the council hopes to have the scheme included in the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP), which outlines where development could be acceptable in Norwich.

After more than a decade in the works, 2023 could be the year that Pinebanks in Thorpe St Andrew gets developed.

'Excessive size'

Pinebanks, the site of the former Norwich Union Sports and Social Club, was sold by Aviva in 2009 after the club's closure a year earlier.

Neighbouring Langley North and South were once home to Langley Prep School and include part of what was Pinebanks and includes the Grade II listed Taylor's Tower.

Fresh plans for the sites were put forward at the end of 2022 reducing the proposed number of homes to 555 - a reduction of more than 23% from a previous scheme.

Plans to redevelop Anglia Square in Norwich have been scaled back

Plans to redevelop Anglia Square have also been scaled back from the original 20-storey tower which Robert Jenrick, the then secretary of state for local government, branded an "excessive size in relation to its context".

The proposed height of the tallest building in the new plans will be just eight storeys and the amount of car parking spaces, homes and retail space have also been cut.

The plans are expected to deliver about 1,100 homes as well as retail and office space.