What's changing

A £350 million rebuild of the 1960s shopping centre and its surroundings: over 1,100 new homes (at least half affordable in the first two phases), shops, workspaces and a container village near Magdalen Street, backed by a £34 million Homes England grant and Aviva Capital Partners.

For day-to-day life the works mean intermittent road and bus-stop closures around Magdalen Street, Edward Street and Magpie Road — the February 2026 closures were the first big round, and construction of phase one follows the demolition. Check the project page or First Bus updates before relying on an old route through the area.

Norwich's bus network keeps being re-cut: route changes in August 2025, January 2026 and April 2026 mean printed timetables and remembered departure times go stale fast. No single free feed lists every change across operators.

First publishes upcoming changes on its planned-changes page; travelnorfolk.co.uk carries disruptions across all operators (First, Konectbus, Simonds). If your route crosses Anglia Square, see the redevelopment card above too.

The council proposes new aisle canopies, better lighting and security, and trader storage in the Undercroft. Over 3,500 people responded to the winter consultation — the council's largest single-theme consultation to date — and the council reports strong support, though some traders have publicly objected that the plan overlooks their concerns.

The market trades as normal meanwhile: Monday to Saturday, 8:30am to 5:30pm on Gentleman's Walk. Any rebuild would change the layout over the next few years, not overnight.

The former Colman's mustard and Robinsons squash factory — the East of England's largest brownfield site — is now in public hands. It anchors the East Norwich Regeneration Area, earmarked for more than 3,500 homes and new riverside public access, with the site's heritage buildings to be kept.

This is the planning stage: nothing is being built yet, and the first visible work is the design competition. Expect years, not months.

Norfolk's two-tier system ends in April 2028. The county's councils are replaced by three unitaries — East Norfolk, West Norfolk and Greater Norwich — and Greater Norwich covers the current city plus 19 Broadland and 16 South Norfolk parishes, about 290,000 people with 63 councillors.

Until then nothing changes day to day: the city council still handles bins, housing and council tax, the county council still handles roads, schools and social care. The first thing residents will actually do is vote in the shadow elections in May 2027.

East Anglia is the driest region in the UK, and the Environment Agency rates this region's summer 2026 drought risk as high, with much of England still in formal drought status from 2025. Anglian Water has not announced restrictions here.

Any ban would be announced on Anglian Water's website and social channels, and can come at short notice — check there before relying on this card.