12 November 2018

As I have consistently made clear, I believe that when new development is to be permitted in our rural towns and villages, it must be sustainable, and accompanied by the necessary infrastructure required to support both it, and the pre-existing community.

For too long, rural areas such as Mid Norfolk have been facing unprecedented pressure from aggressive ‘out of town’ developers intent on dumping copious amounts of houses on the edges of our towns and villages.

That’s why we need good, responsible local housing developers who respect our rural identity and work to ensure they deliver high quality houses that add to local communities and their spirit, not undermine them.

I was delighted, therefore, to visit Abel Homes in Watton this past Friday to see how they are getting on and to discuss a range of issues concerning the planning system. Together with the information I have gathered from local councillors and residents, I will use their feedback as part of my ongoing campaign both here in Mid Norfolk and in Westminster to bring about reform to our planning system – and particularly the Five Year Housing Land Supply Rule.

Abel Homes is a fantastic local developer, building high-quality developments the ‘Norfolk Way’, ensuring that their new homes add to the rural heritage and identity of our communities. This stems from the fact that Chairman, Tony Abel, is a local man with strong family connections to Hingham (and Mid Norfolk as a whole). He founded Abel Homes in the early 1990s and over the years has worked hard, together with his family, to provide fantastic homes for others in our area.

I had the pleasure of attending the opening of ‘The Hops’ development, built by Abel Homes, earlier this year and I was impressed by the positive feedback given to me by residents in the new homes, as well as from the rest of Hingham.

I look forward to seeing Abel Homes continue to build houses the ‘Norfolk Way’ – and I remain firmly committed to achieving the reforms to the planning system that will ensure that local communities such as ourselves have a stronger voice when objecting to inappropriate and opportunistic development.