Who wants to run the 'UK's best place to live'?

Norwich has been known as "A Fine City" for quite some time, but recently it was declared the finest in the UK – with the Sunday Times naming it the best place to live.

Running Norwich is a big job, especially with major changes planned for local government – the city council will be replaced by a single Greater Norwich authority in two years' time.

The existing council has been led by Labour for most of the time since it was established in 1974.

But with only 19 of 39 seats it has not had a majority going into these elections and is facing challenges on more than one front.

Fourteen seats are up for grabs on Thursday, 7 May and five parties are contesting each one of them.

Mike Stonard became city council leader three years ago and said major achievements had been made in that time.

Those included the purchase and demolition of the Anglia Square shopping centre, where 1,100 homes will be built with "the first two phases having 50% affordable housing".

He also pointed to plans moving forward to redevelop the former Colman's mustard factory site with another 500 properties.

However, the council has had some problems with housing-related projects and had to write off a £6m loan it made to its own private development company, Lion Homes, which collapsed.

"I'm always happy to put up my hand and say, 'yeah, that didn't work' and take responsibility. But that has to be seen in the context of all the other really, really good stuff we've done," said Stonard.

With 16 seats, the Greens are the second-largest group but are aiming to take control at Norwich City Hall.

Reflecting on how the party won its first seats locally in 2002, leader Lucy Galvin said "we've been around for a long time".

"We know the council well, the city well, our residents well, and we would love to be in there in charge," she added.

Unlike most local authorities, the council does have its own stock of social housing (aka council housing) and Galvin said it was a priority to build more homes – and improve existing ones.

"We'd prioritise tackling damp and poor conditions in them. We'd prioritise communal areas, making them much better. We'd prioritise clearing up fly-tipping, supporting energy efficiency improvements in homes that help reduce bills."

With three members the Lib Dems are the other party on the council – the one other seat is held by an Independent.

"In many respects these elections are some of the most important elections Norwich has faced," said group leader James Wright, as he looked ahead to local government reorganisation, where the two-tier county council and district council structure would also be replaced by three one-tier unitary councils providing all services in their area.

That process will see the new authority running Norwich also taking in areas currently overseen by neighbouring councils, as well as handling additional responsibilities including social care, education, roads, waste disposal and libraries.

"The people who will be elected to Norwich City Council will be the ones who are shaping the decisions," said Wright.

"We will be arguing on behalf of citizens of Norwich that we get their voice heard at all stages in the process."

Reform UK is aiming to win seats in the city and last year finished behind Labour in a by-election by just one vote.

"It's a council that doesn't swing our way and so any representation will be a big step forward for us," said the party's Norwich chairman Nick Taylor.

He said Reform did not have a local manifesto as it did not want to make pledges until it understood more about the council's debt of more than £200m.

Much of that was built up when the council bought most of its social housing stock – with rent servicing the debt – but Taylor said more investigation was needed.

"Uuntil you address the financial mismanagement in the city council, it's hard to plan how we provide and finance services."

The Conservatives, who last held seats in Norwich in 2012, also criticised Labour's management of money.

Local chairman Simon Jones said the Tories would "bring some financial discipline" and criticised the council for the loss of another £6m on a housing project in Bowthorpe.

He described the scheme – which saw homes sold for less than they cost the council's private company to build – as a "debacle".

Conceding his party had struggled in elections in the city in recent years, he blamed "a dependent culture – a culture that people expect the government to provide for them, fostered by Labour".

"It hasn't really encouraged businesses and people to take a more ambitious view of themselves," Jones said.

A full list of candidates can be found here.

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