5 July 2018

Rural constituencies such as Mid Norfolk are facing unprecedented pressure from aggressive ‘out of town’ developers intent on dumping copious amounts of houses on the edges of our towns and villages – creating several issues, not least with infrastructure and services.

It’s clear that the Five Year Land Supply Rule (which was designed to prevent ‘Nimby’ Councils from ignoring the housing requirements in their own Local Plans) is being used to railroad inappropriate development through, against the wishes of local councils and communities, and to the detriment of sustainable planning, and trust in the planning system.

That’s why I, as I promised my electorate at the last Election, have been actively raising the whole issue of local planning with Ministers.

Further to the Parliamentary debate I secured on Town and Village Plans back in January, I have been highlighting the importance of reforming the Five Year Land Supply Rule and strengthening Neighbourhood Planning with Ministers – and along with several other MPs, I met with the Prime Minister a fortnight ago to discuss the issue in depth.

Yesterday, I attended a Parliamentary debate focussing on the Five Year Land Supply Rule itself and a full video of the debate, as well as clips of my individual statements, can be found below.

I also had an article published in Politics Home (see here) to further emphasise the problem, and why it so urgently needs addressing.

Rest assured, I shall be pursuing this campaign in the months going forward, and I will continue my calls for Ministers to work with myself and others to create a solution.

Clips: https://goo.gl/nHrNNL

https://goo.gl/3HPkec