More than £300,000 has been released to youth centre Open 24/7 and a new visitor centre at the Cathedral of St John The Baptist as part of a partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The HCA's partnership with Norwich City Council, called the Single Conversation, has seen £8 million invested in the city, including £250,000 for the completion of Open 24/7 and £75,000 for the completion of the visitor centre.

Cllr Steve Morphew, Leader of the council, said: "I think the people of Norwich know we have had to work very hard to meet the promises made in the past. Through this groundbreaking partnership with the HCA, the funding promised for these important facilities for communities in Norwich has now been released. This is money that will make a difference for ordinary people in our city, and more importantly the council is helping organisations who have worked so hard to bring exciting projects to realisation. I'm proud we were able to help them make a difference for the city."


The Narthex, built with the support from the HCA, Heritage Lottery Fund and many local and national funding bodies, is a major community facility at the cathedral open to all. There is social and community space, a shop, refreshment areas and an exhibition gallery.

Of the £8 million funding from HCA, £5 million capital will be used to deliver strategic regeneration projects in Norwich. These include the £2.6 million refurbishment of the Memorial Gardens, £300,000 on Norwich Skate Park, and a £1.75 million eco-retrofit of around 800 council properties.

The rest of the money breaks down into £500,000 to cover programme and project management costs - allowing accelerated delivery of the regeneration projects and the development of small housing sites - plus £2.5 million to enable development of the Bowthorpe Three Score site, one of the sites to came forward for development as part of the agreement.

(CD/BMcC)