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. However, I’ve long been vocal about my concern that, too often, aggressive “out-of-town” developers are taking advantage of the planning system to force large, inappropriate and unsustainable applications on our rural communities – frequently trying to ride roughshod over Local and Neighbourhood Plans.

That’s why I am pleased to continue my support for the residents of Saham Toney, who are opposed to an application for 54 homes and their associated infrastructure.

The application, which I first raised concerns about back in 2019, is outside the settlement boundary and would therefore “close the gap” between Saham Toney and Watton by building on land known for its terrible flooding. Not only is this a serious risk, it contravenes the community’s recently adopted Neighbourhood Plan and would have a significant influence on the rural nature and heritage of the parish. I am also unimpressed that the applicant, having seen the opposition raised previously, appears to be trying to circumvent the views of local people by claiming the proposals should be considered in the context of Watton and not now in the context of Saham Toney.

Please see my further letter to Breckland below, as well as my initial submission below that.