Council chiefs have lost almost £6m of taxpayers’ cash setting up a property company - and then kept the scale of the damages out of the public domain, we can today reveal. Norwich City Council formed the company, called Norwich Regeneration Ltd (NRL), in 2015 to build 1,000 new homes at Three Score in Bowthorpe. NRL has borrowed millions of pounds from the council for the project, called Rayne Park, a figure which could

I’ve been getting some weird emails recently. A story I wrote in 2016 about how the deal to build the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (NNUH) has financially crippled it, keeps surfacing at the top of my daily web figures for the EDP. Then, two people got in touch to ask me if it was true Tony Blair is making millions of pounds from that deal. I wanted to ignore them, dismiss them as conspiracy theorists, but surely the r

There are hundreds of numbers and dozens of ways to work out how we are faring in the fight against coronavirus - but by every measure the figures are going in the right direction. Sunday was the second day in a week, since lockdown began almost two months ago, that Norfolk’s three hospitals did not report a single new coronavirus death. In the East of England the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals peaked on April 12 at 1,484

Norfolk doctors have slammed a lack of equipment to protect them in the fight against coronavirus, with one even asking friends to find a snorkelling mask to shield them. Over the last month the government and local NHS bosses have repeatedly insisted they have enough protective equipment, known as PPE, to look after staff. The government has also said it is increasing coronavirus testing for NHS workers, with 2,000 done so far, but that is yet to start in Norfolk. On Tuesday cabinet minister

Paramedics are treating patients without being told they have coronavirus symptoms, a union has claimed. In an email to members, a Unison health and safety officer at the East of England Ambulance Service said staff have told him that they had been called out to help patients with symptoms of the virus, but the call centre, NHS 111, had not told them about those symptoms. “This crucial information is not appare

The directors of a holiday park, which collapsed owing £25m, have been attempting to sell their £2.2m mansion despite a court order freezing their assets, we can reveal. Please see an update to this article here. Simon and Lisa Moir, directors of Walsham Chalet Park Limited, were banned by the High Court in October last year from selling their property. It came after the company, which had a holiday park in No

A council spent more than £1,000 on a luxury away day in a hotel for its leadership while it planned £4m of budget savings. Breckland Council's cabinet enjoyed drinks, a three-course meal and an overnight stay at Congham Hall, near Grimston, in West Norfolk in January. Opposition councillors asked why taxpayers forked out £1,120 for eight councillors and an officer to stay in the Georgian manor, which boast

The ex-boss of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, who is wanted in Australia, is living in a north Norfolk hideaway, we can reveal today. Malcolm Stamp has been wanted in Queensland, Australia, since 2018 as part of an investigation into nepotism allegations at a hospital he ran. Two of his former associates have appeared in court in Australia to face corruption charges. Mr Stamp, meanwhile, is living in a larg

An MP has been accused of double standards after he signed a pledge to increase tree planting, while woods he co-owns will be cut down for 300 new homes. Jerome Mayhew, MP for Broadland, is a trustee, along with family members, of Thorpe and Felthorpe Trust, which wants to clear ten football pitches worth of its woodland for housing. The Trust, along with developer Socially Conscious Capital, won an appeal last year to build

An NHS manager bragged that the service had "got away" with its failings being highlighted after the death of two dementia sufferers - because former Monty Python star Terry Jones had died. The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) was criticised in an investigation into the death of 88-year old dementia sufferer Doreen Livermore who was attacked in a care home in King's Lynn by another dementia patient.

This photo shows how Norfolk's biggest emergency department has become so overcrowded that a sick child had to sleep on a corridor floor. It was 9.30pm on the Saturday before Christmas when Carla Taylor took her daughter to A&E. Lacey, 11, had swollen tonsils and was dehydrated as she could not swallow. When they arrived at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) there were no seats in the children's emergency department. "The room was absolutely packed. Parents and children were

The litany of problems with Greater Anglia's new trains that are causing misery for passengers can today be revealed. The train operator cancelled more than 80 services on Monday with rural lines particularly badly hit. It said disruption would continue "until further notice" and blamed the cancellations on signalling issues. But a string of problems with Greater Anglia's fleet of new electric trains is also behind some of the dela

The hiring of a £1,000-a-day consultant by a council has sparked controversy between the two favourites to become the next MP for North Norfolk. Freedom of Information requests, put in by Conservative candidate Duncan Baker, reveal how a consultant was hired by North Norfolk District Council for £1,000 a day after an introduction by his Liberal Democrat rival. Consultant Peter Thomas was introduced to the council by th

Ambulance staff warned their bosses eight months ago they were being "worked to the bone", leading to mental health problems. It comes after the sudden deaths of two paramedics and one control room worker at the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) this month. On Thursday chief executive Dorothy Hosein told staff she had commissioned an independent investigation into "serious concerns" raised

A charity claims it was duped into signing a £100,000 contract for two printers, worth just £13,000. Missing Kind, which runs the KindaKafe on Castle Meadow, Norwich, warned it would have "severe consequences" on its work. At least one other charity has also been affected and both charities claim their signatures were forged on key documents. Missing Kind was approached in August by a company called Plan Corporate Service

A council is investigating claims that a parish councillor failed to declare an interest in a planning application which was approved by one of his wife's colleagues. King's Lynn and West Norfolk Council approved an application in September last year to build two new homes on land at Bustards' Lane in Walpole St Peter. However, they did not know at the time that council planning officer, Kate Lawty and husband David Lawty, a Walpole parish councillor, had an interest in the land which the hous

Hundreds of the most vulnerable people in Norfolk have been hit by a big rise in disabled care charges. Tom Bristow speaks to those who fear it will mean they lose their home and future. It has been years since Sharon* bought her children presents. At birthdays and Christmases her grandchildren make do with second hand gifts she finds on eBay. But the 64-year old fears even that may have to stop after being hit w

It is a year since inspectors slammed the region's mental health service for making patients wait too long for help. This week they are back. Has anything changed? The 17-year old has been trying to get mental health support since her ex-boyfriend died in a car crash in 2017. Miss Saunders, from Easton, waited 18 months to get a referral from her GP to the youth service of the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT). The beauty therapy student had her first appointment with the NSFT in Ma

A teenager who drove luxury cars while claiming to be a millionaire trader lost £500,000 of investors' cash and has been reported to authorities. Morgan Reeve, from Hunstanton, set up Morgan FX Limited in July last year and bragged on Instagram about how his business, trading foreign currencies, was funding a luxury lifestyle. Foreign exchange traders, known as Forex, bet on movements in the value of a currency and it can

Revealed: What our NHS chiefs say behind closed doors Confidential documents reveal health chiefs' fears over money, while reform plans are being held up by lack of cash and huge staff shortages. Tom Bristow reports. Three years ago NHS bosses promised to transform Norfolk and Waveney's health and care services. Hundreds of meetings, billions of pounds and dozens of reports later the same problems of not enough staff and cash to cope with the rising demand remain, according to minutes of priv