Council pulls out of agreement over estate plans

A county council has backed out of an agreement with a housing association over plans for a £250m redevelopment scheme.

Developer Bromford Flagship LiveWest (BFL) has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate after its proposal to demolish and rebuild almost half the 1,100 properties on the Abbey Estate in Thetford, Norfolk – and add 500 more homes to the area - were rejected by Breckland Council in October.

Norfolk County Council's new leader David Bick has told BFL it was withdrawing from the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement as it was not progressing as intended.

BFL said the decision was "disappointing" but did not affect the planning application.

BFL owns 66% of the homes, originally built by the council during the 1960s and early 70s, with many now privately owned.

Bick, a Reform councillor for Thetford West, wrote to BFL on Monday saying the new administration was "examining all aspects of the council's operations and business".

In his letter, he wrote: "We are not satisfied that the MOU has progressed in the way it was intended and given it is not legally binding, we believe it serves no material purpose going forward."

However, he added the council would continue to engage in the planning process.

An MOU is a formal statement that sets out a partnership's terms and goals, but has no legal basis.

A spokesman for BFL said: "While its withdrawal would be disappointing, it does not affect the planning application, which is now with the Planning Inspectorate for an independent determination.

"Norfolk County Council remains a statutory consultee in the process, as it has been from the outset."

While Breckland Council is the local authority responsible for planning permission, the county council oversees the area's roads, schools and social care.

South West Norfolk Labour MP Terry Jermy used to manage the Abbey Estate's community centre and has campaigned with some residents for the plans to be refused.

Last month, he wrote to the county council to call on them to rescind the MOU agreement.

He said he was concerned it committed Breckland and Norfolk County councils to use their compulsory purchase powers to "forcibly buy privately owned properties on the estate to make way for the redevelopment".

Following the decision, Jermy said the "proposal for the Abbey will destroy the community... Flagship can and must do better for residents".

He added he was also now urging Breckland Council to abandon the MOU.

Plans for the estate, classified as one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England, were first announced in 2019.

BFL has said it wanted to give the estate "a new lease of life".

The work is expected to take about 20 years.

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