Over the past few months, I have held a series of meetings with the Parish Councils of Great Ellingham, Little Ellingham and Rocklands, as well as local councillors and developers, to discuss the likely impact of future developments in the area, and to ensure that adequate highways infrastructure and educational facilities are in place.

The three villages have incredibly close ties and, with significant development likely in Great Ellingham over the next few years, there is considerable local concern about the pressures that will be put on services and infrastructure. Education provision in Great Ellingham and Rocklands is already very close to capacity, and the staggered junction in the heart of Great Ellingham is widely known to be dangerous.

This past Friday, I was pleased to chair another meeting with the local communities – this time with the Leaders of Norfolk County Council and Breckland Council, and their officers from their respective Education, Highways and Planning departments, in attendance. We discussed a number of planning applications being considered in Great Ellingham and how they are interconnected with various education and highways challenges being posed in the three villages.

I am delighted to report that, as a result of this meeting and with the blessing of the Leaders of NCC and Breckland, a joint “development partnership” has been set up for council officers, local councillors and developers to work together to try and address the specific highways and education challenges being faced.

As I have long argued, IF 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.

Rest assured, I am determined to support Great Ellingham, Little Ellingham and Rocklands as they work tirelessly to ensure this is the case in their communities – and I remain firmly committed to doing the same for communities across the entirety of Mid Norfolk.