Superfast, reliable broadband and mobile signal is essential to life in the 21st century – which is why, throughout my time as local MP, I have placed improved provision amongst my central campaign focuses and lobbied hard for investment and action from Government and key stakeholders.

(See my ‘Campaigning for better broadband and mobile signal in Mid Norfolk’ campaign page here)

While much progress has been made (with coverage now up to 95% of Norfolk), there are still problem “not spots” that need to be addressed. I continue to work hard on behalf of those living in that final 5% – but appreciate, that for many in those areas, a reliable, working landline remains of significant importance.

That’s why I welcome BT’s announcement that they are temporarily pausing the migration of all non-voluntary, managed migrations of customers from landlines to their new digital landline service – Digital Voice.

Having seen the issues that other providers have encountered when migrating users to a digital landline, BT have taken their decision to safeguard the services of any of their own customers who may have been at risk of service problems.

Although the migration will eventually go ahead, I am pleased that BT are putting the needs of customers first – and exploring what more needs to be done to support households and businesses through this process. We must not allow our most rural areas, and particularly the elderly, vulnerable and businesses there, to be cut off.

Rest assured, I will continue to monitor progress closely – speaking up on behalf of my Mid Norfolk constituents.

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, over the past year, I have been working closely with Cllrs Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge, as well as the c.35 local communities that form the Campaign Against the New Town (CANT) group, to oppose this latest attempt to push through proposals for a North Elmham New Town and dump c.5000 houses in a deeply rural part of Mid Norfolk without the roads, infrastructure and services required to support both it and the existing communities.

The announcement by Breckland earlier this month that they believe further consideration of the proposed New Town site as “inappropriate” in the context of their ongoing ‘Local Plan Full Update’ was very welcome (see more here). We must not be complacent however. Developers can still bring forward an application nevertheless – which is why we must keep up awareness and pressure, and why I joined Bill, Gordon, the CANT group and Jerome Mayhew beside their banner in Guist recently.

See the video I filmed with CANT Chair John Hoskins above.

Like all parts of the UK, Mid Norfolk needs some new housing – primarily affordable housing for local people focussed in smaller pockets in each of our communities. Not a New Town of c.5000 five bedroom executive houses with no connectivity, services or employment.

Rest assured, I will continue to do all I can to stand alongside local communities in opposing these wholly inappropriate and unsustainable proposals – and support the work being done by Breckland Council and South Norfolk Council to try and focus the right type of new development in the places that make most sense (for example, the A11 Corridor).

To find out more about my work on the campaign opposing the New Town, please scroll down below.

To stay up to date on my wider work on ‘Planning and Protecting Our Local Landscapes and Heritage’, please visit my campaign page here.

UPDATE 5th December 2023

Positive news!

Following the latest round of public consultation in Breckland’s ongoing ‘Local Plan Full Update’, the Council have confirmed they consider further consideration of the proposed New Town site as “inappropriate”.

Having actively worked with local councillors Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge, as well as all of the local communities that comprise the Campaign Against the New Town campaign group, I welcome this news from Breckland.

This is an important step in the right direction and shows that Breckland have listened to the overwhelming consultation feedback to date and share the lack of appetite for an inappropriate and unsustainable, industrial size (c.4000 house) development deep in the heart of rural Mid Norfolk.

Rest assured however, while this announcement will mean the proposals won’t be included in the updated Breckland Local Plan, I remain committed to working with local councillors and CANT to ensure these proposals are not brought forward and forced through by the developers outside of that process.

I look forward to joining Bill, Gordon, campaigners and Jerome Mayhew MP later this week as part of our ongoing efforts to raise awareness of why these proposals are wholly inappropriate and unacceptable.

To find out more about my work on this campaign, please see below and on my ‘Planning and Protecting Our Rural Heritage and Landscape’ campaign page here.

To see the recent EDP article on this announcement, please click here.

UPDATE 7th September 2023

While the House has returned this week following the Summer Recess, the campaign opposing the North Elmham New Town proposals very much continues – which is why I have been in contact with the Campaign Against New Town campaign group (CANT) again this week.

The Government’s announcement last week regarding Nutrient Neutrality (see my views in full here) was a major, positive step forward for the building industry, especially those small, local developers that do so much important work. However, I want to reassure my concerned constituents that I do not believe the announcement changes anything with regards to the North Elmham New Town proposals.

The North Elmham New Town would see such industrial scale development in deep, rural Mid Norfolk and that’s why I am wholly united with the CANT group, and local councillors Gordon Bambridge and Bill Borrett, in opposing the proposals. Such large scale development in such a rural area would be completely unacceptable and unsuitable – fundamentally altering the character of a number of communities, while piling the pressure on dozens more with the increased congestion and demand for local, already stretched services, and also having a significant negative effect upon the local environment, habitats, and landscapes.

Breckland Council rightly threw the North Elmham New Town out last time it came up and made clear that they are focussing new housing on the A11 Nor-Cam Railway Innovation Corridor and NOT in the Wensum Valley.

I am determined to continue working with CANT, Bill and Gordon to ensure that the legitimate concerns of our local communities are being treated with the seriousness they deserve, and to ensure Breckland are once again armed with the information they need to once again throw these proposals out.

Having liaised with neighbouring MP Jerome Mayhew (who, himself, has a number of concerned villages in his Broadland constituency) over the summer, I look forward to driving forward this active and ongoing campaign again in the weeks and months ahead.

Please see all of my recent work on this campaign below.

UPDATE 20th June 2023

For too long we have seen developments forced through by national housebuilders against the wishes of local people and the Local Council’s Plan.

That’s why, as part of my wider campaign efforts on Planning and the protection of our rural landscapes and heritage, I continue to be so actively involved in the local campaign opposing the New Town proposals that look to be resurfacing around North Elmham, Billingford and Bintree – holding another meeting in North Elmham this past Friday, with Cllr Bill Borrett, Cllr Gordon Bambridge and representatives of the c30 villages that would be affected were a New Town (disguised as a “Garden Village”) built in this deeply rural part of Mid Norfolk.

Breckland Council rightly threw the North Elmham New Town out last time it came up and made clear that they are focussing new housing on the A11 NorCam Railway Innovation Corridor and NOT in the Wensum Valley.

I am determined to make sure the Parish Councils and residents in the c30 villages that would be affected are heard when they make very clear that they do NOT want to see a New Town in their deeply rural area as an Option in the next Local Plan – and welcomed the opportunity to update the local campaign on my efforts since our last meeting (detailed in the webstories below), as well as to discuss next steps.

To see the EDP’s latest piece on the campaign, please click here.

To stay up to date with all my work on planning and protecting our local environment and heritage, please visit my campaign page here.

UPDATE 20th June 2023

As our collective efforts continue on the campaign opposing the new ‘Garden Village/New Town’ proposals that may be resurfacing around North Elmham, Billingford and Bintree, I am looking forward to joining representatives of many of the deeply concerned c.35 local parishes (in the north of Mid Norfolk, as well as just across the border in Broadland) again later this week, with Cllr Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge.

It will be an opportunity to update local community figures on my recent conversation with Jerome Mayhew, who’s Broadland constituency also contains a number of parishes concerned by the proposals that may be coming forward. I also look forward to sharing details of letter I recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP) as well – making clear my belief that new Garden Village/Town settlements should be focussed on key transport routes with the ability to sustainably cater for them, rather than in deeply rural areas with minimal infrastructures and service and which have virtually no ability to improve them without causing untold environmental and existing community damage.

Rest assured, I remain firmly committed to working with Bill, Gordon and the local parishes, and will post further updates in due course.

UPDATE 30th May 2023

Further to my previous posts in relation to the campaign against the ‘Garden Village/New Town’ proposals that may be resurfacing around North Elmham, Billingford and Bintree, I welcomed the brilliant article in the EDP today, highlighting that more than 30 parish councils have now united behind that campaign – up from the c.15 it was just a few weeks ago.

See the article here.

I remain firmly committed to working with and supporting local parishes, and local councillors Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge, as we collectively raise awareness on why this highly rural location is completely inappropriate and unsustainable for an industrial scale development of several thousand houses.

To see my previous webstories and updates on this issue, please scroll down below the picture of the submission.

To stay up to date with my ongoing campaign efforts on this issue, please do regularly check back in on my  Planning and Protecting Our Rural Landscape and Heritage’ campaign page here.

UPDATE 18th May 2023

Ahead of the deadline of the ‘Breckland Local Plan Update – Issues and Options Report for Consultation’, I have written to the Leader of Breckland Council to ensure that my opposition, in support for local councillors Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge and the c.15 concerned Parish Councils and communities in the area, is formally recorded and considered as part of the process.

Please see my submission below.

(To see my previous webstories on this issue, please scroll down below the picture of the submission).

UPDATE 3rd May 2023

Further to my previous posts on 5th and 24th April 2023, I am delighted to be able to share the below article published in the EDP this week – further highlighting why I, and many others, are opposing the idea of a new Garden Town to the north of Dereham.

A link to the online article can be found here.

UPDATE – 24th April 2023

Further to my post on 5th April 2023, I am delighted to be able to share the below Op-Ed I recently wrote for the Dereham Times – outlining in further detail why I am opposing the idea of a Garden Town to the north of Dereham.

5th APRIL 2023 WEBSTORY

For decades now, our planning system hasn’t been delivering the housing we need, in the places we need it, for the people who need it. For too long, the system appears to have been driven by the national volume house builders who too often make their money from land banking and high density commuter housing estates on the edge of existing developments – rather than through a proper planning system run to deliver for the people who need planning to work for them, instead of being done TO them.

I’ve long been concerned by the amount of development coming to areas like our own in rural Mid Norfolk – which is often inappropriate, “industrial” in scale and unsustainable. While most of our villages can take and are indeed up for (when properly asked) taking some additional new housing (without which our communities will gradually fade away), I fundamentally believe that more needs to be done to give local communities a greater say in how they develop in the years to come (with greater protections), which is why I have been so vocal in my opposition to the way so many large national developers abuse and take advantage of the planning system to dump such inappropriate and unsustainable developments on our towns and villages.
 
That’s why, through The Norfolk Way project I set up before I became an MP, I have been so vocal in advocating for a better model of growth and development that places greater emphasis on delivering small pockets of housing of the type and aesthetic desired by local communities, and in the places they earmark. I truly believe the spirit of Localism enshrined in the 2011 Localism Act should be enhanced, with the Act itself strengthened to remove some of the loopholes we’ve seen exploited. (To read more about my views in full, please visit my ‘Planning and Protecting Our Rural Heritage and Landscape’ campaign page here) I was delighted to see the NPPF reformed in the autumn by Michael Gove to give more power to local planners.

I continue to make the case I have long made that the right way to plan housing is to give local councils, democratically accountable to the local residents they serve, the freedoms and incentives to plan properly for the right sort of housing and growth where it is needed ie:

• around hotspots of economic growth
• on brownfield sites in areas needing regeneration
• around growth towns with the infrastructure and services available to sustain further growth
• in villages with a Neighbourhood Plan setting out the amount of housing they are happy/able to take and which ensures affordable & appropriate local housing for local workers and residents

That’s what the Breckland and South Norfolk Council Local Plans rightly aim to do. What we don’t need in rural Norfolk is massive commuter estate “New Towns” dumped in the middle of rural mud Norfolk without proper infrastructure, facilities, sustainable transport links or fit with the existing pattern of development.

The North Elmham New Town

The North Elmham New Town would also represent massive development of the precious River Wensum chalk stream habitats (not to mention a Site of Specific Scientific Interest).

That’s why I was delighted to chair a meeting on Friday in North Elmham with local parish councils and local councillors Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge to make clear that the idea of a new town in the area will NOT be supported by ourselves as elected local  representatives.

Bill and Gordon confirmed that Breckland Council are NOT zoning this area for major housebuilding, and will oppose a re-application of the New Town as we did successfully last time it was proposed.

New Towns and Garden Villages

Whilst there are places in the UK where there may be a strong case for a new generation of garden towns and villages, with all of the necessary infrastructure and transport links (either to drive regeneration as in parts of the post-industrial North, or to alleviate the pressure around major growth hits spots like Cambridge), North Elmham is not a sustainable location.

I can think of several possible sites in East Anglia that could perhaps take such a garden town or village: specifically the dilapidated station sites on the Cambridge-Ely-Brandon-Thetford-Attleborough-Wymondham-Norwich railway line – as part of the Oxford-Cambridge East-West Railway Development Company I have championed over the years, and especially during my time as Minister for the Future of Transport at the DfT.
 
However, I’ve also been very clear that, for any such development, we need to be sure that:

1. Any such developments must avoid the loss of ancient woodland and high quality farmland
2. We see a serious commitment to Net Zero and building into the plans a higher quality, cleaner, greener standard of life – not continuing to same old, lazy model of house dumping that sees thousands of additional vehicles tearing through old country lanes and causing more congestion and rat-running
3. There is serious investment into public and private infrastructure – with proper road, rail, cycle and walking routes
4. Any such development is planned appropriately and sustainably, and that it makes sense in the wider community context.

 
I have not seen any evidence to suggest that a garden town or village would be appropriate in this part of Mid Norfolk, and given the rural and inaccessible nature of North Elmham and the surrounding villages, the already serious congestion on the nearby road network and the nationally significant environmental and habitat importance of the Wensum Valley, I cannot envisage any circumstances in which this idea could be taken seriously.

To my mind, it would make far more sense for such a significant level of growth to be focussed down closer to the A11 Corridor – which Breckland Council themselves have, rightly, recognised is the key growth artery in our region and have tried to focus the bulk of the district’s future growth. I know the Leader of Breckland Council, Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, and both Cllr Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge strongly support this.

That’s why I was delighted to join the c12 local parish councils representing the areas that would be affected by this idea to make clear my opposition.

Next Steps

At the meeting we agreed some important Next Steps:

• To reconvene a meeting of ALL the parish councils in the affected area after the forthcoming local elections on May 4th to make sure all write to Breckland Council formally to express their concerns.
• Bill and Gordon and I will liaise to ensure all the local residents who object have their objections properly acknowledged by BDC.
• I will invite my neighbouring MP, Jerome Mayhew, to join that follow-up meeting given a number of his Broadland communities are in close proximity to the site around North Elmham and would also be affected.
• I will write to Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and the Minister for Housing to make clear why any New Towns and Garden Villages should only be  delivered in the right locations with the associated connectivity, infrastructure and services required) and not in inappropriate locations with the obvious environmental, sustainability and transport issues this scale of development would inevitably threaten.

 Please be assured that I will keep on this in the weeks and months ahead.

Further to the update I posted yesterday (see here), I am now able to share a copy of the letter, co-written with Henry Cator (Chair of the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance), that I today submitted to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Building Safety and the Minister for Water and Rural Growth.

Together, Henry and I have highlighted four key policy areas we believe need to be addressed:

1. Riparian Ownership Rights
2. Funding for Lead Local Flood Authorities and Internal Drainage Boards
3. Developer rights to connect surface water to public sewers
4. Stricter legal obligations – with large fines if necessary to fund compensation and remedial work – on large scale developers, the Environment Agency, water companies and landowners who fail to fulfil their responsibilities and/or cause flooding.

And we have requested a meeting with both ministers to discuss Flooding in greater depth – as Lord Dannatt and I secured previously.

One of the reasons for stepping back from the Government frontbench was to have more time to help tackle this and to be able to introduce a Bill/legal reforms to the necessary planning rules to get this fixed. We cannot have households across Mid Norfolk continuing to be repeatedly flooded.  

Rest assured, I will keep on this.

To stay up to date with my Flooding Campaign, please click here

Access to cash is key for our small businesses & vulnerable residents across Mid Norfolk.

That is why I was pleased to visit Nationwide Dereham on Friday, who, in the year of their 50th anniversary, have committed to keeping their branches open — providing vital services. 

It was clear that the branch was busy & thriving, attracting many to switch from Halifax, Lloyds, & Barclays. 

This further demonstrates the value of in-person banking & access to cash, which is why I am proud to be supporting the Nationwide Banking bill in parliament, so that great building societies like Nationwide can expand their offering to small businesses with cash & other banking services. 

To find out more on all my work on access to cash and local banking, please visit my campaign page here.

The rise in serious flooding in Norfolk over the last few years is caused by a number of factors: climate change; new housing estates with inadequate drain infrastructure; a serious lack of maintenance of our rivers, drains, ditches and culverts; and a lack of clearly understood legal responsibilities. 

Traditionally, our rivers were maintained by the drainage boards and ditches by farmers and landowners to keep rainwater draining away. But with the Environment Agency now putting habitats ahead of drainage, and agencies like Anglian Water giving up riparian rights to maintain ditches and culverts, and councils powerless to force big developers to install proper drainage, we have a perfect storm – leading to the floods we have seen in the last few years, and last month in Attleborough where c100 homes were flooded and a handful are now flooding regularly.

That’s why, after the 2020 Christmas floods in Mid Norfolk – when many of us spent Christmas bailing out neighbours and on the phone to Anglian Water and the Fire Brigade, I set up the Mid Norfolk Flood Partnership with the 30 villages most affected to set out a simple set of practical actions required to stop flooding (see here and here).

I’m delighted Norfolk County Council adopted our recommendations in full and set up the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance (see here), now chaired by Henry Cator, to implement the changes we need.

But we need to go further: we need a clearer set of legal obligations – with fines if necessary to fund compensation and remedial work – on large scale developers, on the Environment Agency, on water companies and any negligent landowners to maintain drain infrastructure.

That’s why I am writing to ministers again to highlight the need for greater emphasis on flooding and drainage in the planning system, requesting a meeting with them and their officials to discuss reforms of the riparian ownership legislation and this's vital point about holding developers, the EA, water companies and negligent landowners to account. 

One of the reasons for stepping back from the Government frontbench was to have more time here in Mid Norfolk to help tackle this. And to be able to introduce a Bill/legal reforms to the necessary planning rules to get this fixed. We cannot have households across Mid Norfolk continuing to be repeatedly flooded.  

Rest assured, I will keep on this – working with partners, such as Henry Cator at the NSFA, to ensure Mid Norfolk’s voice is being heard at the very highest levels.

To stay up to date with my flooding campaign, please visit my webpage here

As a former Health Minister and someone with a close understanding of the incredible role our NHS plays each and every day, I am very aware of the brilliant work so many staff do – but also of how difficult the past few years have been, and the serious challenges still faced.

That’s why I continue to place great importance on regular, direct contact with staff at all levels of our local NHS – including our GP surgery managers and the Norfolk and Waveney NHS Integrated Care Board who I had the opportunity to meet again yesterday for our latest virtual forum.

Having met the group on several occasions over the past twelve months (see here and here), and visited local practices (including most recently Mattishall – see here), I am acutely aware of the realities being faced on the frontline – which I have been helping our local GPs and senior NHS staff raise with ministers and officials in Westminster. I’ve also been able to pick up my constituents’ concerns on issues, such as access to GP appointments and pharmacy prescription delays, and explore what more I can do to help deliver improvements locally.

Yesterday’s conversation saw us discuss the civil servant “tick box” culture and the associated lack of flexibility that Whitehall allows (particularly when it comes to using available funding) which so often restricts the innovation and leadership that our local NHS can deploy – especially in key fields like early intervention and prevention, which would improve the lives of so many and free up funds that could be channelled into driving forward further NHS service improvements elsewhere.

We also discussed the need for the planning system to place much greater emphasis on health and social care infrastructure and investment when permissions are being determined – something I am already campaigning on once again as part of my ongoing support of ATTCARE and their work to ensure Attleborough has the health and social care provision it needs to sustain itself now AND the new development coming the town (see more on that work here).

(Indeed, while there is already a statutory requirement within current planning legislation that, quite rightly, dictates sufficient education provision must be provided when new development is permitted. Adequate school places, with the associated investment, must be planned for prior to occupancy. However, bizarrely, this is still not the case for health and social care. We want that changed).

Rest assured, I remain committed to doing all I can to speak up for and represent Mid Norfolk – both on behalf of my concerned constituents and those working in our local NHS. I look forward to working with our GPs and wider local NHS partners on a number of fronts – and will be following up with the new Secretary of State and her team again before Christmas to share this latest feedback.

Road safety has long been a major focus of mine – which is why, throughout my time as local MP, I have always been very active on campaigning for proper investment into our Mid Norfolk road network, with proper measures implemented to tackle accident blackspots.

Over recent weeks and months, road safety in Guist (for motorists and pedestrians) has been an issue regularly raised with me – which is why, this past Friday, I was delighted to meet with Cllrs Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge, Parish Council representatives (including Parish Chair Peter Reynolds) and NCC Highways officers to discuss what more can be done to improve safety on the increasingly busy Norwich Road, as well as several other key routes in the village.

Several follow-up actions have been agreed and, as I have done at a number of other locations across Mid Norfolk (most recently at Necton – see here), I look forward to continuing my work with the community to see what improvements we can bring about.

To stay up to date with all of my campaign efforts to ‘Make Our Roads Fit for the 21st century’, please visit my campaign web page here

16 October 2023

Road safety has long been a major focus of mine – which is why, throughout my time as local MP, I have always been vocal about the need for proper investment into our Mid Norfolk road network, with proper measures implemented to tackle accident blackspots.

The tragic news of the death of a man at Guist last month brought into sharp focus once again the dangerous stretch of the A1067 that runs through the village. My heart goes out to his family.

Enough is enough.

This speeding blackspot has increasingly become a serious issue locally – with a number of recent near misses and recent crashes. The Norwich Road traffic is growing ever faster, and local residents and road users are rightly concerned about road safety at this location.

That’s why I have been in touch with local councillors Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge, as well as Guist Parish Council, and why I have contacted the Regional Director of National Highways to make clear that urgent safety improvements are required here. I’ve also asked that a review into the road following this tragic death is conducted.

There’s no doubt that measures need to be taken. Rest assured, I am determined to make Mid Norfolk’s voice heard.

To learn more about my ongoing work to improve road safety (including the recent improvements I helped secure at Necton), please visit my “Making Our Roads Fit for the 21st Century” campaign page here

An MP’s first duty is to their constituency. I believe it’s so important for me, as YOUR elected representative, to be out and about and accessible, to listen to and represent YOU! And not just at election times!

That’s why, in addition to the 500+ casework emails, letters and telephone calls I receive each week, as well as my various campaign work, I run a regular programme of Supermarket and Community Surgeries here in Mid Norfolk – moving them around the constituency to make it as easy as possible for people to come and see me.

This past Friday, I was delighted to hold my latest Supermarket Surgery at Dereham Morrisons – where I met dozens of constituents, discussing a range of specific casework matters and/or wider policy topics on issues like town regeneration and High Streets, GP appointments, Highways issues and local banks.

Engagement with my constituents is such a vital part of my job and I relish the chance to have YOU come along and ‘bend my ear’.

If YOU would like to come along and informally bend my ear at one of my upcoming surgeries, please do contact me at george.freeman.mp@parliament.uk

Or if YOU would just like some help with an issue, or to make me aware of a policy concern, please do just send over your comments via email for me to pick up too.

Proper access to cash and local banking services remains vital for many living in Mid Norfolk – especially the small businesses that drive our local economy and those who depend on the support of branch staff (such as the elderly and the most vulnerable).

Having grown up and lived in East Anglia for most of my life and been the local MP for our largely rural constituency for over thirteen years, I am acutely aware of the additional challenges rural areas face – and the greater importance of bank branches and ATMS in our rural communities.

That’s why I, working alongside local councillors, council officers and the likes of Cash Access UK and LINK, do all I can to speak up on behalf of my Mid Norfolk constituents and businesses on these key issues – lobbying for the additional support and provision our area needs.

Together we have already secured a new Community Banking Hub for Watton (see here) but there is much more still to do – which is why I continue to do all I can locally to shine a light on this issue, and why I am supporting Nationwide’s Bill in the House which aims to allow providers, such as themselves, to deliver many more financial and banking services through their local branches. This would be a gamechanger. Nationwide are currently the only provider committed to keeping their local branches open and so the passing of this Bill would be a big boost for the likes of Attleborough and Dereham – protecting and enhancing the services many in the area can access (especially the vulnerable, elderly and small businesses).

To learn more about my ongoing campaign, please see the webstories below.

Access to cash and local banking services are still vital for many living in Mid Norfolk – especially the elderly, the vulnerable and small businesses.

That’s why, I am delighted that the new Watton Community Banking Hub service is now in operation and serving the local community – from its temporary home in Wayland House (High St, Watton, Thetford, IP25 6AR).

This is fantastic news for the town.

With several banks closing their Watton branches in recent years, I know how difficult it has become for many in the Watton area to get the support they need, when they need it. I therefore welcomed LINK and Cash Access UK’s recognition of those difficulties, as well as the opportunity to have conversations with them, local Breckland councillors Claire Bowes and Tina Kiddell and Breckland council officers back in the summer to support their efforts to secure a new Community Banking Hub on the High Street (see more here).

While work on a permanent location is being finalised (with a suitable location on Watton High Street already found), Cash Access UK have moved quickly to set up a temporary location in Wayland House – ahead of Christmas – in order to give local residents and businesses the support they need.

Open five days a week, the temporary hub will offer a counter service operated by the Post Office, where customers of all major banks can carry out regular cash transactions. It also offers a Community Banker service where customers can talk to their own bank about more complicated issues.

Community Bankers will work on rotation, with a different bank available on each day of the week:

Monday: TBC

Tuesday: NatWest

Wednesday: HSBC

Thursday: TBC

Friday: Barclays

I look forward to seeing the temporary hub in action first-hand – and to visiting the permanent hub in the new year.

More details on Cash Access UK, LINK and the Community Banking Hub programme can be found here

Rest assured, I will continue to do all I can as part of my ongoing campaign with local councillors across Mid Norfolk to ensure our communities have the banking and access to cash provision they need.

For more information on my access to cash and local bank services campaign, please see my campaign page here