The Conge plans for 82 new homes to regenerate Great Yarmouth
A council and two housing associations have submitted plans for 82 new homes as part of a regeneration project.Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) acquired leases from businesses on the south side of The Conge from 2020 and began demolition in 2024. Using money from the Government's Future High Streets Fund and Brownfield Land Release Funding, the authority has worked with Broadland Housing Association and Orwell Housing on plans for the site.Under the proposals, 82 homes, including flats and houses, built on the land, either side of George Street.Carl Smith, the Conservative leader of GYBC, said: ''We are incredibly excited by what the regeneration of The Conge will mean for local people."
The council said the partnership would improve a key gateway between the railway station and Market Place, the latter having had £11m invested in a new market building, new paving, lighting and planting.Additional plans involving premises on the north side of The Conge could see further businesses relocated, to allow additional homes to be built in the future.Smith added: ''This key location has been neglected for some time and this redevelopment is part of our broader regeneration strategy for the borough.''Broadland and Orwell are award-winning housing associations and have a proven track record of delivering and managing high-quality homes and places. "They bring a wealth of expertise and resources to progress the development of this key area of the town centre.''The planning application comes after a public consultation last year on the plans for The Conge, which included an opportunity for people to see the proposals at Great Yarmouth Town Hall.GYBC Labour group leader Trevor Wainwright said: ''We know there is increasing demand for new homes in the borough and, by working in partnership with two experienced organisations, this forms an important part of our regeneration strategy.''
In a joint statement, Andrew Savage, Broadland's executive director development, and Greg Dodds, Orwell's assistant director of development and growth, said: ''Orwell and Broadland are both locally based and have a long track record of providing quality homes for rent and sale across Norfolk and Suffolk."Orwell and Broadland are delighted to bring forward this iconic site in the centre of Great Yarmouth as the first project under the partnership."The application at The Conge will help to transform a brownfield site into high-quality, well-designed and attractive housing. These much-needed homes in the town centre will be energy efficient to heat for people, and sustainable for future generations who will live there.''
Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Welsh councils face £5.25m Aberthaw Power Station station pay-out
There are serious questions to answer over why a legal row over a defunct power station has left a group of ten Welsh councils footing a bill in the millions, a senior Tory has this year a High Court judge declared that a contract to demolish Aberthaw Power Station for the Cardiff Capital Region was awarded a Senedd committee the chair of the consortium, Mary Ann Brocklesby, said the region will pay a settlement of £5.25m to a rival company that lost RT Davies, Conservative MS for South Wales East, said it was "frankly unacceptable". Brocklesby told the Senedd's economy committee, which Davies chairs, that an independent review handled by accountancy firm Deloitte is region's director Kellie Beirne assured Members of the Senedd (MSs) the region will take steps to ensure it does not happen Beirne admitted it had caused "a lot of pain and anguish for many, many people".Under the region's plans the site, which hosted a coal fired power station until 2019, will be used to support the production of renewable and green energy region says the legal settlement has been funded from "commercial returns on interests" generated, and that no further public money is required for it. A company set up by the city region - a consortium of a number of local authorities including Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan - awarded a contract for the demolition of the power station last year to a company called Erith in council - which had run the procurement - admitted liability in court after lawyers for a rival company, Brown and Mason Limited, challenged the to a court document, High Court judge Justice Jefford declared that "the defendant's conduct of the procurement was unlawful" and that the claimant would have otherwise been awarded the who is also Labour leader of Monmouthshire council, told the economy committee "the amount of the settlement... was £5.25m"."I'm not able to say much more at this point, because we are undergoing an independent review, which we commissioned as political leaders," she said. Ms Beirne added that the region was "taking this extremely seriously - we recognise the gravity of it."She indicated the body was in touch with Audit Wales "throughout this process".The director added: "When that review concludes and we have findings, we'll be able to be much more open about what happened and take steps to ensure that this can't happen again."Brocklesby added that the figure was "final", but said there were "legal processes that we need to go through".Andrew RT Davies, who chairs the committee, questioned the pair on how the region was securing "hundreds of millions" needed to seek the project asked how the body was "giving confidence to the private sector, and the independent sector more generally, to come in as partners in light of what's gone on".Brocklesby said the future of Aberthaw "does actually look very bright, and we're not feeling any effects from the impact of this highly regrettable procurement issue".Challenged on that point by Davies, she added: "I wouldn't be so foolish as to say that there is no risk to reputation or to Aberthaw. What I am saying is that we are mitigating it in various ways".Bernie said that "maybe bigger figures" than "hundreds of millions" could be needed for Aberthaw. £38.6m is being invested on acquiring, clear and remediating the site. Davies said: "Taxpayers will pick up this £5.25million bill thanks to the Labour-run Cardiff Capital Region's bungled handling of this contract."This is frankly unacceptable, as this cash should be going towards improving our public services."CCR's Labour leadership have serious questions to answer." A statement from the region said: "A legal challenge was made following a procurement exercise for the demolition contract relating to the Aberthaw Power Station, which was awarded in July 2023."A mediated settlement with the claimant has now been reached and an independent review of the procurement arrangements is underway. "The settlement has been fully funded from commercial returns on interest generated on balances held, with no impact on core programme budgets or any requirement for further public funding."In line with Cardiff Capital Region's commitment to transparency and accountability, the independent review will examine the procurement process in full in order to ensure that all issues are identified and acted upon."While the independent review is being conducted and until that process is concluded, we are unable to comment further."This matter does not affect the wider work of Cardiff Capital Region or the progress of the Aberthaw project. The redevelopment of the site into a flagship green energy park is progressing at pace."
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Telegraph
The Trump foe behind Amazon's Biblical epic
Leonard Leo won his decades-long crusade to reshape the US legal system when he helped Donald Trump appoint three conservative Supreme Court justices, securing a Right-leaning supermajority in the nation's highest court. While he has since fallen out of favour with the president who last week branded him a 'sleazebag', the Federalist Society leader has quietly been fighting another battle: giving pop culture a Godly makeover. 'I just said to myself well if this can work for law, why can't it work for lots of other areas of American culture and American life where things are really messed up right now,' Mr Leo said in a promotional video for Teneo, a conservative networking hub he helped fund. He went on: 'Entertainment that's really corrupting our youth – why can't we build talent pipelines and networks that can positively affect those areas as well?' So far, the Christian power player's campaign to litter the streaming charts with conservative programming is another success story. Mr Leo, 59, secretly helped bankroll the studio behind House of David, a biblical retelling of David and Goliath, according to the Wall Street Journal. Like the story of its protagonist, it defied the odds by leaping to the coveted number one spot on Amazon Prime. It has already been commissioned for a second season. Mr Leo, who joined the Federalist Society as a student in the 1980s, reportedly has not spoken to Mr Trump in five years, but as his scope for influencing the president dwindled, he began yielding another power playing tool. In 2020 Barre Seid, the Chicago billionaire, donated all of his shares in his electrical manufacturing firm Tripp Lite to one of Mr Leo's conservative non-profits. It was then sold for $1.6 billion. This funding allowed him to plough millions of dollars into amplifying religious and conservative filmmakers, the newspaper reported. Mr Leo is said to have helped fund Wonder Project, a Texas-based studio founded by Jon Erwin, the Christian director, which created House of David. The studio's tagline is: 'Restoring faith in things worth believing in.' In an Instagram post announcing it had achieved number one on the Amazon Prime chart, Wonder Project said 'all glory to God for this one'. Mr Erwin is a member of Teneo which has a subgroup focused on entertainment. Its annual conference is understood to have become a nerve centre for Christian filmmakers where creatives pitch to conservative investors. The network is understood to invest in studios rather than individual movies to achieve an ongoing impact on culture, rather than producing one-hit wonders. Wonder Project has received funding from Sovereign Capital, a Christian investment firm. John Coleman, its leader, said its objective is 'to love God and love our neighbour through investing'. Mr Leo has also reportedly given money into Sycamore Studios, which focuses on children's entertainment free of views of diversity, gender or homosexuality. 'We're not going to be the Ford Foundation to be around forever,' Mr Leo told the Wall Street Journal. 'The goal is to do our work, and at some point in time to decide that we've done what we can do and move on.' The success of House of David, which more than 22 million people streamed in the first two weeks, comes amid a surge in appetite for Christian films – one of which Mr Erwin has helped spearhead. He was the mastermind behind Jesus Revolution, a 2023 film which is based on the true story of the early days of the 'Jesus People' hippie subculture in the 1960s. It left out that the protagonist, Lonnie Frisbee, who really did kickstart the Jesus movement, was gay and died of Aids in 1993, after he was excommunicated and outcast from the movement he had founded. It made more than $50 million at the box office and when it was released it was the highest-grossing film released by the Lionsgate studio since 2019. It was the 48th highest grossing film in the US in 2023. Mr Erwin's previous works include October Baby, about young mothers finding God in an abortion clinic, and Woodland, which features young mothers finding God on an equalities march. 'Within the entertainment industry specifically, I think there's an uprising on the behalf of Christianity,' Mr Erwin previously told Christianity Today. 'I think there's a resurgence in belief and a sudden increase in spirituality in America, even though church attendance is going down. It's an exciting moment to be in the business. We're at the forefront of a return to God.' He added: 'We've only scratched the surface on what faith-based entertainment can be. We're wondering, 'How can we make the Bible a cinematic universe?'' Key players continue to make inroads. In April, Angel Studios released King of Kings, an animated film in which Charles Dickens, voiced by Kenneth Brannagh, tells the story of Jesus to his son Walter, played by Roman Griffin Davis. The film made over $60 million at the box office and is number 11 of the highest grossing films so far this year in the US, according to IMDB. Angel Studios also helped launch Biblical drama The Chosen, a series about Jesus's life. When the fifth season was released this year, they put out a three-part cinematic release. All three are in the top 50 highest-grossing box office releases so far this year, bringing in more than $43 million collectively. Mr Erwin's next directing project with Angel Studios, is Young Washington, a film about the origins of America's first president. Trump attacks Leo When it comes to the origins of Mr Trump's initial electoral success, Mr Leo was certainly a player. During the 2016 election campaign he gave Mr Trump a list of potential justices he could appoint to win over support from the Republican base. He advised Mr Trump on the nominations of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. But last week, Mr Trump, who reportedly believes Mr Leo took too much credit for the judicial appointments, went from simply banishing Mr Leo to his close confidantes to publicly attacking him. 'I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on judges,' Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social after a US court blocked the majority of his tariffs. 'I did so, openly and freely, but then realised that they were under the thumb of a real 'sleazebag' named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.' Responding to the jibe, Mr Leo praised Mr Trump 'transforming' the federal courts, which he said amounted to Mr Trump's 'most important legacy'. As Mr Leo moves on from Maga and begins to flex his soft power in the entertainment industry, it is clear Mr Trump was just one episode in his multi-part series on his own crusade to reshape America in his conservative, Christian vision.
Daily Record
11 hours ago
- Daily Record
New State Pension age set to change next year for people with these birthdates
The State Pension age will increase from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028. Pension Credit – Could you or someone you know be eligible? The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is urging people born between certain dates to check when they will be eligible to claim their State Pension using the online tool at The State Pension age is set to start rising from 66 to 67 next year, with the increase due to be completed for all men and women across the UK by 2028. The planned change to the official age of retirement has been in legislation since 2014 with a further State Pension age rise from 67 to 68 set to be implemented between 2044 and 2046. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the DWP wrote: 'Born between 6 April 1960 and 5 March 1961? Check today to find out what your State Pension age will be.' People born on April 6, 1960 will reach State Pension age of 66 on May 6, 2026 while those born on March 5, 1961 will reach State Pension age of 67 on February 5, 2028. You can check your own State Pension age online here. It's important to be aware of these upcoming changes now, especially if you have a retirement plan in place. Everyone affected by changes to their State Pension age will receive a letter from the DWP well in advance. The Pensions Act 2014 provides for a regular review of the State Pension age, at least once every five years. The review will be based around the idea people should be able to spend a certain proportion of their adult life drawing a State Pension. A review of the planned rise to 68 is due before the end of this decade and had originally been scheduled by the then Conservative government to take place two years after the general election - which would have been 2026. Any review of the State Pension age will take into account life expectancy along with a range of other factors relevant to setting the State Pension age. After the review has reported, the UK Government may then choose to bring forward changes to the State Pension age. However, any proposals would have to go through Parliament before becoming law. Check your State Pension age online Your State Pension age is the earliest age you can start receiving your State Pension. It may be different to the age you can get a workplace or personal pension. Anyone of any age can use the online tool at to check their State Pension age, which can be an essential part of planning your retirement. You can use the State Pension age tool to check: When you will reach State Pension age Your Pension Credit qualifying age When you will be eligible for free bus travel - this is at age 60 in Scotland Check your State Pension age online here. State Pension payments 2025/26 Full New State Pension Weekly payment: £230.25 Four-weekly payment: £921 Annual amount: £11,973 Full Basic State Pension Weekly payment: £176.45 Four-weekly payment: £705.80 Annual amount: £9,175 Future State Pension increases The Labour Government has pledged to honour the Triple Lock or the duration of its term and the latest predictions show the following projected annual increases: 2025/26 - 4.1%, he forecast was 4% 2026/27 - 2.5% 2027/28 - 2.5% 2028/29 - 2.5% 2029/30 - 2.5% Recent analysis released by Royal London revealed only around half of people receiving the New State Pension last year were getting the full weekly amount - and around 150,000 were on less than £100 per week. The DWP will issue letters to all 12.9m State Pensioners in March telling them their new payment rates. This letter also encourages older people to check if they are eligible for Pension Credit. State Pension and tax The Personal Allowance will remain frozen at £12,570 over the 2025/26 financial year. The most important thing to be aware of is that people whose sole income is the State Pension will not pay income tax. However, anyone with additional income on top of their State Pension may need to pay tax. This is paid a year in arrears, so if the 2025/26 financial year's uplift takes you over the threshold, you will not receive a tax bill from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) until July 2026. How to get full New State Pension Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners, the online investment platform, said: 'People typically need at least 10 qualifying years of NI (national insurance) contributions to receive any State Pension at all and at least 35 years to receive the full New State Pension - though they don't need to be consecutive years. 'Plugging gaps can be quite an expensive process, so it is important to assess whether you actually need to buy back any missing years. This will depend on how many more years you plan to work, and whether you are eligible for NI tax credits, which fill the gaps, such as those who have been sick, were unemployed or took time out to raise a family or care for elderly relations. 'Plugging gaps in your record is relatively straightforward since the Government rolled out its new NI payments services in April last year - a State Pension forecast tool that has been checked by 3.7m since its launch.' She continued: 'People simply need to log into their personal tax account or the HMRC app to not only view any payment gaps but also check if they can plug those gaps directly through the UK Government's digital channels. 'A short survey assesses the person's suitability to pay online with those eligible to pay directly given a series of options to plug any gaps depending on when someone wants to stop working. 'Calculating whether to top up can be confusing though and ultimately there is no point paying for more years than you need because you won't get that money back.' Ms Haine added: 'People who might need to top up include those that took a career break as well as low earners or expatriates living and working abroad."
