Building enough houses to make sure everyone in our area has the chance for a roof of their own, while also making sure we protect our rural landscape and heritage, is often a difficult balance.
That’s why I set up my Norfolk Way Project to promote a new model of rural development, protecting our heritage AND driving a ‘Rural Renaissance’ in our towns and villages with improved transport links and new businesses and opportunities.
Since becoming MP for Mid Norfolk back in 2010, I have worked with local community groups and councillors to promote a more local and organic model of development and make sure everyone’s voice is always heard on planning issues. Whether on protecting the Lizard or saving the Tiffey Valley, where there is a danger of large-scale over-development I will always speak out to make sure we protect our landscape and heritage.
What we need is a long-term local plan. That’s why I will continue to work with local councils over this Parliament to make sure they get proper Local Plans and Neighbourhood Plans in place, ensuring development is always in keeping with our area’s traditions and heritage.
Please see my latest updates on my work on this issue below.
As part of my ongoing work to help communities in Mid Norfolk create their own Neighbourhood Plans, I was delighted to speak with members of Mileham Parish Council over Zoom this last week – as they explore the pros and cons of possibly creating a Neighbourhood Plan for themselves.
As many constituents, businesses and local Parish Councils have contacted me about in recent weeks, the Government has recently held two important consultations – the ‘Changes to the Current Planning System’ and ‘Planning for the Future’ consultations.
It is no secret that I have deep concerns about the high number of applications in our part of Norfolk – many of which are, often, highly inappropriate and on a scale that is unsustainable and out of keeping with the heritage and identity of our largely rural area, lacking the services and infrastructure needed to support them and the existing community, as well as clearly breaching the sustainable development criteria set out in the National Planning Policy Framework and 2011 Localism Act.
While I have long argued that our planning system is broken (and am therefore very pleased indeed to see the Government’s recognition that it needs significant reform), I am concerned with the reforms proposed in the Government’s ‘Changes to the Current Planning System’.
Rural constituencies such as Mid Norfolk are facing unprecedented pressure from aggressive ‘out of town’ developers intent on using the Five Year Land Supply Rule (which was designed to prevent ‘Nimby’ Councils from ignoring the housing requirements in their own Local Plans) to railroad inappropriate development through – against the wishes of the local councils and communities.