Homes approved for sinking Argyle Street Norwich site

Norwich City Council has given plans to build 14 properties in Argyle Street, off King Street, the green light. 

While today the area is peaceful, in the 1980s squatters were forcibly removed for the redevelopment of the site in what became known as the "Battle of Argyle Street".

A community occupied the site from the late 1970s until 1985, with around 120 people living there at one stage.

Council bosses have wanted to build on the site for some time after the homes from the 1985 redevelopment were knocked down following cracks forming in some properties which were sinking into the ground. 

City Hall submitted plans to its own planning department to rebuild properties on the site - believing a solution has been found to get around the area's subsidence issues. 

An overgrown, boarded up and fenced off house in Argyle Street. pictured in 2014, before the demolition Picture: Newsquest (Image: Archant)

Surveys established that chalk tunnels, dug for mining, run under the site, but experts are confident homes can be built. 

To address the ground issues, deep piled foundations for the buildings' walls and floors would be taken into the chalk bedrock and past any tunnels and unstable material. 

Ahead of Thursday’s planning committee meeting to discuss the plans, nine locals wrote to the authority to object to the scheme. 

Concerns included whether the site was too dense, that it could be a haven for wildlife instead and whether the land was suitable for building on. 

An artist's impression of how the redevelopment of Argyle Street in Norwich could look. (Image: WT Design) (Image: WT Design)

But planning officials insist all the construction issues have been addressed, the site has been allocated for development in council planning documents and is of an acceptable density. 

Councillors unanimously approved the plans.

Councillor Judith Lubbock (Image: ARCHANT EASTERN DAILY PRESS (01603) 772434)

Liberal Democrat Judith Lubbock said: “I think it’s a great opportunity for us to see 14 properties built, it’s been a long time coming.  

“It ticks so many boxes, it’s in an area close to the city centre, transport facilities and surrounded by open space. 

“We have an area where tenants can socialise, and children can play safely.” 

Republic of Argyle Street  

This is not the first time Argyle Street has made headlines.

In the 1980s, it was home to Britain's longest-running squat and became known as the Republic of Argyle Street. 

The story of the squat is one described by some as a journey from a dream cooperative to a ghetto. 

Squatters are evicted from Argyle Street in 1985. (Image: Archant Library) (Image: Archant Library)

The community moved on to the site in December 1979, after plans by the University of East Anglia to build student homes fell through. 

It became a place of shared living and communal spirit where lamp posts were decorated as giraffes and pavements were decorated with rainbows and peace signs. 

The squatters even applied for grant funding to renovate the area.

But the dream collapsed when the government's Department of the Environment blocked the city council's plan to sell or lease the houses to the community. 

The council then decided to demolish the area.

Graffiti in Argyle Street in 1985. (Image: Archant Library) (Image: Archant Library)

After the squatters were evicted, the original homes were torn down in 1985 and new properties were built. 

Many of the properties only lasted 30 years before being knocked down, with some boarded up for six years before demolition.

The council had moved its tenants out of some of its properties - 16 flats and three bungalows - in 2009, after tests showed the buildings were at risk of subsidence, with cracks appearing in some of them. 

Tenants who were moved out were eligible for home-loss payments of around £5,000 to £6,000.