Norwich City Council

Norwich is an amazing city which seamlessly combines the modern with the historic. It’s also a vibrant city with a thriving economy and cultural scene.

With creativity in its DNA, Norwich is the perfect place to be when it comes to pushing the boundaries and doing things differently. The city council plays a pivotal role in leading the collaborative agenda for shaping the city of the future.

This work, which builds on the city’s successes, and addresses the challenges it faces, is encapsulated in the collectively owned Norwich 2040 City Vision document.

The themes which form the foundation of this shared vision for the city are creative, fair, liveable, connected, dynamic.

Clearly, the pandemic has thrown many new and different challenges our way, but work is well underway to tackle these as set out in our Covid-19 recovery plan.

Covid has changed much for us as a city and a key employer. We have embraced the benefits of adopting a new hybrid working model and are well underway on developing our new transformation programme, Future Shape Norwich.

But we’re not stopping there – we are also pushing forward with our ambitious climate change agenda. As a council, that means we’re aiming to be operationally carbon neutral by 2030. How we manage our current housing portfolio, as well as deliver on our housing plans for the future, have an important part to play in those  aspirations.

Our new corporate plan for 2022-26

We have set out five new cross-cutting aims for the city council up to 2026:

Aim 1: People live independently and well in a diverse and safe city
Aim 2: Norwich is a sustainable and healthy city
Aim 3: Norwich has the infrastructure and housing it needs to be a successful city
Aim 4: The city has an inclusive economy in which residents have equal opportunity to flourish
Aim 5: Norwich City Council is in good shape to serve the city

Our employees and services

We currently have about 580 full-time equivalent employees. Along with our partner organisations, they provide a range of different services for Norwich residents and visitors. These include:

• Housing services (we provide and maintain over 14,500 council homes – making us one of the nation’s largest local council landlords)
• Planning, regeneration and economic development
• Culture, tourism and leisure
• Parking services
• Parks and open spaces
• Environmental services, waste collection and recycling
• Processing housing and council tax benefits
• Public protection, including licensing and environmental health
• Electoral services

Political make-up

The council has 39 councillors representing 13 wards throughout the city (composed of three councillors in each ward). All councillors serve a four-year term. The current political make-up of the council is: Labour: 25 seats; Green Party: 11 seats; Liberal Democrats: 3 seats

The council operates a 'leader and cabinet' structure. The current cabinet consists of eight members of the Labour Group, as follows:

• Leader of the council, Councillor Alan Waters
• Deputy leader and social housing, Councillor Gail Harris
• Environmental services, Councillor Catherine Oliver
• Climate change and digital inclusion, Councillor Emma Hampton
• Community wellbeing, Councillor Adam Giles
• Safe, strong and inclusive neighbourhoods, Councillor Beth Jones
• Resources, Councillor Paul Kendrick
• Inclusive and sustainable growth, Councillor Mike Stonard

Notable achievements and awards

In more recent years, the city council has proved to be a high-performing and award-winning council. Some notable achievements include:

• Winner of the RIBA 2019 Stirling Prize for the Goldsmith Street development – a 100% social housing and Passivhaus scheme and the first housing scheme of any kind to be shortlisted for the prize. 
• Norwich Market – winner of the National Association of British Market Authorities (NAMBA) Best Large Outdoor Market Award 2019.
• Our award-winning council-commissioned ‘Pathways’ project – an ambitious and innovative scheme which brings together eight specialist organisations to provide support for rough sleepers.
• Winner of ‘Climate Action of the Year’ at this year’s The Global Good Awards