If we are to achieve the Government’s Net Zero targets and move towards a ‘Greener ’more healthier 21st century life, we need to plan smarter, restore habitats and encourage people to get outdoors and enjoy walking and cycling in our beautiful Norfolk countryside.
That why I was delighted to be approached and am happy to support the Wendling Beck Exemplar project.
This is an exciting initiative led by local landowners, aimed at promoting wildlife, biodiversity and habitats, and making sure developers that build in Norfolk / Carbon positive businesses must put back into Norfolk – by investing in ‘Eco-units’ (which provide funds for environmentally beneficial projects. For example, tree planting).
This is a real opportunity for Norfolk to be at the forefront of post-Brexit, Net Zero, environmental and good farming standards and an example of how Britain can go further than previously to help the environment.
If successful, the model can be transported around the country – paving the way for farmers to diversify and for us to invest in our environment and leave the place better than we inherited.
Also, it will ensure development of what I like to call ‘green lungs’, in our communities – where people can come to enjoy nature and walk, jog and cycle as part of a much healthier way of life.
I feel very excited to be part of the project and helping the team get it off the ground.
Further updates will be posted in due course.
Having worked in business for over fifteen years before becoming Mid Norfolk’s MP, and having served as a Business Minister, I know just how important local businesses are to both our local and national economy. They really are the engine that drives our country forward!
That’s why I am pleased to have been asked to speak at this meeting with an update on current government policies for businesses.
Please join us on Wednesday 24th February 2021 at 2.30pm-free online meeting for business people with an interest in Attleborough and Snetterton and future developments.
All you need is an email address so a link can be forwarded onto you. Please email valerie@thelivelycrew.co.uk to book a place.
There will also be Mark Robinson representing Breckland Council with an update on funding and grants available for businesses, Covid related and otherwise – along with Phil Leslie and Ed Tyrer, local business people and town council representatives.
Many of my constituents in Mid Norfolk have been left devastated by the terrible flooding just before Christmas, and in recent weeks.
It will come as no surprise that I continue to receive large amount of correspondence in relation to the flooding. The current system is not working, and something needs to be done.
That’s why I helped set up the Mid Norfolk Flood Partnership (MNFP) – which includes local councillors, Parish Chairs and community groups in some of our most affected areas and brings them together with officials from Norfolk County Council Highways/Water and Flood Management, Anglian Water and the Environment Agency.
(Our first meeting took place at the end of January. To learn more, please visit my website here and here)
Ahead of the first meeting of the Norfolk Strategic Flood Alliance (NSFA) later this week, I have reached out to Lord Dannatt and shared the main points and concerns raised by the MNFP. He has invited me to speak with him today to discuss those points in further detail and I will take the opportunity to find out how the MNFP can feed in to, and play a key role, in the NSFA going forward. To learn more about the NSFA please click the link to the EDP article here
There has to be a better way to respond to, and mitigate, future flooding events – and, rest assured, I am committed to doing all I can to bring that about.
With such a harsh cold snap upon us here in Mid Norfolk, I welcome the announcement that there is a Cold Weather Payment trigger in certain, particularly affected postcodes.
£25 will be paid to eligible residents within these post codes in Mid Norfolk: IP25, PE32, PE37, NR16, NR17, NR18, NR19, NR20, NR21, NR9
For more information click here
We are so lucky to have the Mid Norfolk Railway here in our part of Nelson’s County. It is a real tourist asset and a source of joy for so many.
So I was delighted to sit in on a Zoom meeting today to hear the latest developments in the MNR’s bid to secure more funding to improve the Railway station at Wymondham in the near future.
The station is such an important asset to Wymondham and, in time, could be a great connection for the Wymondham-Dereham line link up with the main Norwich Cambridge line.
Rest assured, I’ll continue to do all I can to support this wonderful Norfolk attraction. I am so looking forward to visiting the MNR again in the summer when it is safe to do so.
Many of my constituents in Mid Norfolk have been left devastated by the terrible flooding just before Christmas, and in recent weeks.
That’s why I was delighted to hold the first meeting of the Mid Norfolk Flood Partnership that I helped convene this week, which involved most of the key organisations including Norfolk County Council Highways and Flood Management, the Environment Agency and Anglian Water, along with the local district and county councillors, several Parish Chairs and local community groups.
It was a very positive first meeting and I shall be feeding the discussion points into the larger Norfolk Flooding group that Norfolk County Council has announced and which will be headed by Lord Dannatt.
Rest assured, I will provide further updates as we take this forward. To see more click here
Thousands of Mid Norfolk residents were devastated this Christmas by:
- Flooding
- Sewerage outflows
- Accompanying power cuts
- Poor response from UK Power Networks, Anglian Water and the Environment Agency
This isn’t good enough.
One such village was Necton and, this past Friday, I joined a Zoom meeting with the Parish Council and some of the worst affected residents to hear of their experiences and better understand the situation.
Their experiences are just not acceptable in this day and age.
This is further evidence of why a Mid Norfolk Flooding Partnership is so desperately needed – and I look forward to the first meeting of the group later this week.
To learn more about the Partnership, please click here
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.
That’s why I have submitted the below letter to Breckland Council – to formally put on record my concerns about the application to build 50 new homes on land south of Dereham Road in Mattishall (due to be heard by the Breckland Planning Committee on Monday).
The application is clearly unsustainable and we must do all we can to stop inappropriate developments that lack the necessary infrastructure to support it.
I believe that there is a better way to do Planning – and to read more about my views on this, please see my submissions to the Government’s recent National Planning Policy consultations here .
For too long our area has suffered from poor broadband coverage.
Superfast, reliable broadband is essential to life in the 21st century – and with superfast broadband, alongside improved road and rail connections, we can unlock what I have called a ‘Rural Renaissance’ in our area, allowing businesses to set up in our villages and towns and creating new high-skilled jobs and opportunities.
That’s why one of my key missions since becoming the MP of Mid Norfolk has been the improvement of superfast broadband services in our area, and the county as a whole.
Yesterday, I was delighted to chair BT’s ‘Delivering a Gigabit East of England’ roundtable – with Virgin and Openreach both making presentations too, and over two dozen MPs from across the East attending and asking questions.
Much more needs to be done to get the speeds and reliability required to unlock our ‘Rural Renaissance’ and the opportunity for us as parliamentarians to hold BT, Virgin and Openreach to account and learn more about what we can do in the House to energise the ‘roll-out’ was invaluable.
Rest assured, I shall continue to speak up for Mid Norfolk, and Norfolk as a whole.
