Controversial redevelopment of Thetford Abbey Estate blocked by councillors
People said they have faced years of anxiety and stress after the plans first emerged due to the risk they will be forced to leave their homes for them to be demolished
Last updated 16th Oct 2025
Councillors have rejected one of Norfolk’s most controversial planning applications in decades, in a highly-charged meeting attended by police.
The redevelopment of the 1,100-home Abbey Estate in Thetford proposed demolishing hundreds of homes to make way for an extra 500 and would have taken place over 20 years.
But Breckland Council’s planning committee decided to refuse permission, stating the harms would outweigh the benefits, such as the anxiety and stress the uncertainty of the development would cause.
Huge cheers could be heard following the vote, with only two out of 12 councillors voting for it.
Following the decision, Dave Armstrong, chief operating officer at Flagship, said: “We’re naturally disappointed, but we fully respect the decision and the views that have been shared.
“We’ve spent the past five years working with local people and listening to their hopes for the Abbey.
“We’ve heard that change is needed, and we remain committed to working with the council and the community to make that happen.”
They worry it will destroy the community that has developed there, with four generations of the same family living in close proximity.
The plans have proved hugely controversial with the Abbey’s residents, with many residents joining a campaign to oppose them.
People said they have faced years of anxiety and stress after the plans first emerged due to the risk they will be forced to leave their homes for them to be demolished.
They also complained Flagship has not done enough to look after the homes it already owns on the estate and its communal areas, with numerous complaints made just this week by frustrated residents.
This includes fallen-down walls, houses left vacant and peeling paintwork.
At the meeting, the committee heard their concerns over how the plans would affect them.
Fiona Kiane, a homeowner on the Abbey Estate who could see her home demolished, gave a passionate speech.
She said: “The people who live on the estate are not just statistics on an index of deprivation, we are families and children.
“This will cost us our community… It will devastate us for years to come.
“The Abbey was an award-winning place when first built. It has a historic significance for Thetford.
“Change is needed but not at the expense of people who have lived peacefully here for years.”
The Abbey Estate was built in the 1960s following Thetford signing up to the Town Expansion Scheme – a project that aimed to offer housing for thousands of people living in London elsewhere in the country.
Between 1957 and 1974 around 3,000 houses had been built and the town’s population had increased from 4,500 to more than 17,000.
The Abbey Estate was the last of three to be built on what used to be farmland.