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 (based on the Neaton Business Park at Watton) again this past Friday.

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.

Joined by local councillors Tina Kiddell and Claire Bowes for Friday’s visit, I discussed a range of issues affecting the planning industry with Tony and his senior leadership team. The most notable issue we discussed was Nutrient Neutrality and the profound impact it is having not just upon small and medium sized local housebuilders, but also upon the local authorities (like Breckland and South Norfolk) who have done the work to produce Local Plans and are now under increased threat from exploitative “out-of-town” developers intent on dumping large estates on our towns and villages.

While I have been following the Nutrient Neutrality issue closely over the past twelve months (see more on my views here), I have undertaken to follow up again with ministers and officials, as well as Natural England, to see what more I can do to speak up for our local councils and good local developers like Abel Homes.

We absolutely must take wastewater and nutrient pollution incredibly seriously. However, we also need to make sure that we do so in a way that is fair and proportionate, and which doesn’t unnecessarily hurt our local communities. Rest assured, I remain committed to working with parliamentary colleagues and key local stakeholders to stress to policymakers the importance of finding the right balance.