Fairer Rural Schools Funding and Support

Mid Norfolk is home to dozens of much loved schools that play a vital role in our local communities.

As we know however, rural schools have higher costs compared to those in urban areas and, for decades, were very often underfunded in comparison to their urban counterparts. They also face a wide variety of different, acute challenges compared to urban schools that need different solutions and support.

That’s why, throughout my time as the local MP, I have been one of our local education sector’s biggest advocates (especially with regards to SEND support in our mainstream and specialist schools – see more on my campaign page here). I have always made a point of regularly visiting local schools as part of my programme of Mid Norfolk constituency visits, as well as maintaining frequent and open dialogue with headteachers, staff and governors in order to best speak up on their behalf and provide support.

It's also why I have so actively lobbied in Westminster over the years for greater funding, support and resources to ensure schools in rural areas like Mid Norfolk are not left behind – instead receiving the assistance they require to ensure our local youngsters, whatever their background, get the education and opportunities they need and deserve.

Back in 2010, there was a widespread appreciation that, after over a decade of Labour Government, the country needed to tighten its belts and work hard to erase the deficit (the highest in the United Kingdom’s peacetime history) and begin reducing the national debt.

Over the past thirteen years, I have been struck by how many local teachers, heads, governors and parents shared that appreciation and urgency – and I have watched with great admiration as rural schools in Mid Norfolk have worked tirelessly to deliver “more for less”. Rarely, if ever, have they complained of the greater financial constraints within which they have had to operate during this time.

I am acutely aware however that rising costs and pressures over the past couple of years are presenting a very significant challenge to many schools in our area – compounded by challenges with SEND provision and the demands placed upon them by OFSTED.

It’s for that reason why I continue to campaign hard for greater support and funding for rural schools, and why I also continue to place great importance on my engagement with local staff.

On this campaign page, you will find more information on my historic and ongoing campaign efforts – with regular updates being posted.

Rest assured, I am determined to speak up on behalf of our local Mid Norfolk schools to ensure their voices are being heard at the highest levels.

5 July 2023
G20 visit to India

The world urgently needs to harness science and technology to better tackle the urgent global challenges faced by our planet.

The urgency of these challenges and the pace and intensity of the global race for Science + Technology make science diplomacy more important than ever.

Science and diplomacy move slowly, right?

No more.

Proud and privileged to represent my country here at the G20 in India to leave the world in no doubt that the UK is deeply committed to:


🌍 Harnessing Science, Technology + Innovation to help tackle the urgent global challenges facing our planet

🌍 Deeper global SRTI collaborations

🌍 Defending the values of open and secure research

And

🌍 Taking a stand with our democratic allies in Europe and the World in wholeheartedly condemning the criminal, brutal and immoral attack by Russia on Ukraine.

Russia has no place at the G20 table whilst violating our shared values.

3 July 2023
Alcohol Awareness Week 2023

The harm caused by alcohol affects millions of people every year in the form of health problems, financial worries, relationship breakdown and family difficulties. It brings with it huge social costs too with the significant pressure it places on the NHS, the emergency services, police, and workplaces.

Having seen first hand the impact of alcohol abuse on close family and friends, this is an issue very close to my own heart, which is why I welcome the chance to highlight Alcohol Awareness Week again this year.

Thank you to charities like NACOA UK and Alcohol Change UK for all the great work you do to support those struggling with alcohol dependency and related issues, along with their families.

To find more about the alcohol related issues that impacted me as a child, please click here

To learn more about some of my previous work with NACOA, please click here

To learn more about NACOA themselves, please click here

To learn more about Alcohol Change UK, please click here 

30 June 2023
Watton Sports Centre – Astropitch Update

Anyone familiar with Mid Norfolk knows that our area is home to a much loved sense of spirit and community that binds us all together. A big part of that local spirit is our many wonderful community groups and sports clubs – all doing incredible work in our local towns and villages.

That’s why, throughout my time as the local MP, I have done my utmost to support them and why I continue to support the campaign to replace Watton Sports Centre’s rapidly deteriorating astropitch – a much loved and valued local asset that the likes of Watton Hockey Club call home.

Having previously taken my own two children to play hockey on the astropitch when they were teenagers, I was shocked to see the state of it when invited by Watton Hockey Club to visit the astropitch back in 2021 (see here). There was absolutely no doubt that, unless funds could be raised to replace the pitch in the next few years, it would soon be completely unusable.

I therefore committed to offering would support I could to the Sports Centre, Hockey Club and others as they got to fundraising – and am delighted now to be supporting a bid by the Sports Association for a grant from the Communities Fund, having now submitted a letter of support to the Sports Centre Manager.

I remain determined to do what I can to support Watton Sports Centre and the various clubs that rely on the astropitch. It isn’t just an asset to the town, it is an asset for those living across Breckland and Mid Norfolk.

Local assets like these are crucial to our local communities, and I am committed to ensuring they are retained and maintained so that they can be enjoyed by many generations to come.

To see more about my work supporting local community groups and sports clubs, please visit my website campaign page here.

George Freeman visits Watton Hockey Club
30 June 2023
NHS Dentists – Update

Dental health is a crucial part of NHS services and it is vital that EVERYONE can access the support they need when they need it.

That’s why, over the past 2-3 years, I have been actively campaigning, with fellow Norfolk MP colleagues, for improvements to NHS dental services here in the East, particularly around access and appointments. 

As part of that campaign, I have been calling for more local training opportunities, including a full NHS Dental School for the East. As we know, statistically, students that study at the likes of UEA and the University of the Arts are far more likely to settle locally than students elsewhere in the country. I believe we would see the same occurring were a Dental School established here – ensuring our area has more vital dentists living and working in our local practices.

I therefore welcome the announcement today of the Government’s ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’, which includes a commitment to increasing the number of training places for dental therapy and hygiene professionals across the UK by 28% by 2028/29. This is a positive step forwards.

I also welcome the establishment of the Norwich Dental Development Centre by UEA to bring together education and training needs for our region’s dentists. The Dental Development Centre represents the first step towards the full undergraduate School of Dentistry at UEA that I, along with fellow Norfolk parliamentary colleagues, are desperate to see – and I am committed to supporting UEA as they put together a bid ready for when the Government opens the national bidding process for additional training places.

Rest assured, I will continue to work hard on this issue.

To stay up to date with all of my campaign work on NHS Dentistry, please visit my website here

29 June 2023
Mid Norfolk Headteachers Call

Throughout my time as the local MP, I have been one of our local education sectors biggest advocates, supporting them locally, while also lobbying in Westminster for greater funding, support and resources to ensure areas like Mid Norfolk are not left behind, but rather get the assistance they need to ensure local youngsters, whatever their background, get the education they need and deserve.  

That’s why, as part of my ongoing work to speak up on behalf of the sector (and further to my webstory post last month – see here), I met with a number of local Mid Norfolk headteachers yesterday – the first meeting of a regular online forum I hope to hold with our local school leadership moving forward.

The meeting was an excellent opportunity for me to hear first-hand, and in more depth, about the challenges facing our local schools – confirming much of what I already knew and have been raising, but also shining a light on new issues that I am now keen to follow up on.

I have undertaken to raise the feedback shared with me yesterday with the Secretary of State and Schools Minister, along with their officials, as part of my continuing dialogue with the Department for Education ministerial team. I will also be flagging many of the same points with the DfE’s Regional Commissioner for the East when I speak with him again later this month.

Rest assured, I am determined to keep speaking up on behalf of our local schools and their staff – in order to ensure they are being heard at the highest levels and that Mid Norfolk gets the support it needs to be able to deliver the very best education for our youngsters.

I also look forward to the next meeting of this important new forum, and to continuing the conversations that have already been taking place via my regular schools visits and through email correspondence in the weeks and months ahead.

28 June 2023
Dereham Supermarket Surgery

An MP’s first duty is to their constituency. I believe it’s so important for me, as YOUR elected representative, to be out and about and accessible, to listen to and present YOU! And not just at election times!

That’s why, in addition to the 500+ casework emails, letters and telephone calls I receive each week, as well as my various campaign work, I run a regular programme of Supermarket and Community Surgeries here in Mid Norfolk – moving them around the constituency to make it as easy as possible for people to come and see me.

Last Friday, my Supermarket Surgery visits took me to Dereham’s Morrisons. There, I met dozens of constituents who discussed a range of topics from local planning issues and health care infrastructure to SEND support for children and concerns for the North Elmham “New Town”.

Engagement with my constituents is such a vital part of my job and I relish the chance to have YOU come along and ‘bend my ear’.

If YOU would like to come along and informally bend my ear at one of my upcoming surgeries, please do contact me at george.freeman.mp@parliament.uk

Or if YOU would just like some help with an issue, or to make me aware of a policy concern, please do just send over your comments via email for me to pick up too.

28 June 2023
Three new NHS Diagnostic Centres for Norfolk

As a former Health Minister and someone with a close understanding of the incredible role our NHS plays each and every day, I am very aware of how difficult the past few years have been – especially for those working on the frontline, and those waiting for assessment and treatment.

That’s why I am pleased that cutting waiting lists is amongst the Government’s top five priorities – and why I welcome the Government’s confirmation that Norfolk and Waveney will benefit from three new diagnostic centres backed by £85.9 million of government investment.

The Department of Health and Social Care has approved the locations of these new centres (James Paget University Hospital, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn) and I told that each one will house MRI and CT scanners as well as X-ray and ultrasound imaging, used for diagnosis and monitoring of a very wide range of conditions, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, trauma, musculoskeletal diseases, neurology and COVID. More staff (including radiographers, radiologists and support staff) will be recruited to deliver the scans and, once each centre is fully up and running, I understand they will deliver over 281,000 tests, checks and scans to patients in the Norfolk region, speeding up access to vital diagnoses and ultimately saving more lives

Great news!

This announcement marks a major, county-wide step forward in diagnostics – and will not only allow the Covid backlog to be cleared, but also ensure our local NHS can deliver even more in the months and years to come. It also, of course, follows the announcement last month on the full rebuilds of both the James Paget Hospital and QEH (see more here).

I am delighted that Norfolk is getting this vital funding from the Government and will continue to work with parliamentary colleagues and key NHS stakeholders to speak up for our county to ensure it gets the funding and support it needs.

28 June 2023
Royal Norfolk Show 2023

It’s Showtime!

The Royal Norfolk Show is a spectacular annual showcase of our great county’s rural way of life and agricultural economy. The best in class show for the best in class county!

If you are available either today or tomorrow, why not take the time to make the most of the weather and pop down to join in the celebrations.

More information can be found on the Royal Norfolk Show website here.

27 June 2023
North Elmham New Town Update

UPDATE 20th June 2023

For too long we have seen developments forced through by national housebuilders against the wishes of local people and the Local Council’s Plan.

That’s why, as part of my wider campaign efforts on Planning and the protection of our rural landscapes and heritage, I continue to be so actively involved in the local campaign opposing the New Town proposals that look to be resurfacing around North Elmham, Billingford and Bintree – holding another meeting in North Elmham this past Friday, with Cllr Bill Borrett, Cllr Gordon Bambridge and representatives of the c30 villages that would be affected were a New Town (disguised as a “Garden Village”) built in this deeply rural part of Mid Norfolk.

Breckland Council rightly threw the North Elmham New Town out last time it came up and made clear that they are focussing new housing on the A11 NorCam Railway Innovation Corridor and NOT in the Wensum Valley.

I am determined to make sure the Parish Councils and residents in the c30 villages that would be affected are heard when they make very clear that they do NOT want to see a New Town in their deeply rural area as an Option in the next Local Plan – and welcomed the opportunity to update the local campaign on my efforts since our last meeting (detailed in the webstories below), as well as to discuss next steps.

To see the EDP’s latest piece on the campaign, please click here.

To stay up to date with all my work on planning and protecting our local environment and heritage, please visit my campaign page here.

UPDATE 20th June 2023

As our collective efforts continue on the campaign opposing the new ‘Garden Village/New Town’ proposals that may be resurfacing around North Elmham, Billingford and Bintree, I am looking forward to joining representatives of many of the deeply concerned c.35 local parishes (in the north of Mid Norfolk, as well as just across the border in Broadland) again later this week, with Cllr Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge.

It will be an opportunity to update local community figures on my recent conversation with Jerome Mayhew, who’s Broadland constituency also contains a number of parishes concerned by the proposals that may be coming forward. I also look forward to sharing details of letter I recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP) as well – making clear my belief that new Garden Village/Town settlements should be focussed on key transport routes with the ability to sustainably cater for them, rather than in deeply rural areas with minimal infrastructures and service and which have virtually no ability to improve them without causing untold environmental and existing community damage.

Rest assured, I remain firmly committed to working with Bill, Gordon and the local parishes, and will post further updates in due course.

UPDATE 30th May 2023

Further to my previous posts in relation to the campaign against the ‘Garden Village/New Town’ proposals that may be resurfacing around North Elmham, Billingford and Bintree, I welcomed the brilliant article in the EDP today, highlighting that more than 30 parish councils have now united behind that campaign – up from the c.15 it was just a few weeks ago.

See the article here.

I remain firmly committed to working with and supporting local parishes, and local councillors Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge, as we collectively raise awareness on why this highly rural location is completely inappropriate and unsustainable for an industrial scale development of several thousand houses.

To see my previous webstories and updates on this issue, please scroll down below the picture of the submission.

To stay up to date with my ongoing campaign efforts on this issue, please do regularly check back in on my  Planning and Protecting Our Rural Landscape and Heritage’ campaign page here.

UPDATE 18th May 2023

Ahead of the deadline of the ‘Breckland Local Plan Update – Issues and Options Report for Consultation’, I have written to the Leader of Breckland Council to ensure that my opposition, in support for local councillors Bill Borrett and Gordon Bambridge and the c.15 concerned Parish Councils and communities in the area, is formally recorded and considered as part of the process.

Please see my submission below.

(To see my previous webstories on this issue, please scroll down below the picture of the submission).

UPDATE – 3rd May 2023

Further to my previous posts on 5th and 24th April 2023, I am delighted to be able to share the below article published in the EDP this week – further highlighting why I, and many others, are opposing the idea of a new Garden Town to the north of Dereham.

A link to the online article can be found here.

UPDATE – 24th April 2023

Further to my post on 5th April 2023, I am delighted to be able to share the below Op-Ed I recently wrote for the Dereham Times – outlining in further detail why I am opposing the idea of a Garden Town to the north of Dereham.

5th APRIL 2023 WEBSTORY

For decades now, our planning system hasn’t been delivering the housing we need, in the places we need it, for the people who need it. For too long, the system appears to have been driven by the national volume house builders who too often make their money from land banking and high density commuter housing estates on the edge of existing developments – rather than through a proper planning system run to deliver for the people who need planning to work for them, instead of being done TO them.

I’ve long been concerned by the amount of development coming to areas like our own in rural Mid Norfolk – which is often inappropriate, “industrial” in scale and unsustainable. While most of our villages can take and are indeed up for (when properly asked) taking some additional new housing (without which our communities will gradually fade away), I fundamentally believe that more needs to be done to give local communities a greater say in how they develop in the years to come (with greater protections), which is why I have been so vocal in my opposition to the way so many large national developers abuse and take advantage of the planning system to dump such inappropriate and unsustainable developments on our towns and villages.
 
That’s why, through The Norfolk Way project I set up before I became an MP, I have been so vocal in advocating for a better model of growth and development that places greater emphasis on delivering small pockets of housing of the type and aesthetic desired by local communities, and in the places they earmark. I truly believe the spirit of Localism enshrined in the 2011 Localism Act should be enhanced, with the Act itself strengthened to remove some of the loopholes we’ve seen exploited. (To read more about my views in full, please visit my ‘Planning and Protecting Our Rural Heritage and Landscape’ campaign page here) I was delighted to see the NPPF reformed in the autumn by Michael Gove to give more power to local planners.

I continue to make the case I have long made that the right way to plan housing is to give local councils, democratically accountable to the local residents they serve, the freedoms and incentives to plan properly for the right sort of housing and growth where it is needed ie:

  • around hotspots of economic growth
  • on brownfield sites in areas needing regeneration
  • around growth towns with the infrastructure and services available to sustain further growth
  • in villages with a Neighbourhood Plan setting out the amount of housing they are happy/able to take and which ensures affordable & appropriate local housing for local workers and residents

That’s what the Breckland and South Norfolk Council Local Plans rightly aim to do. What we don’t need in rural Norfolk is massive commuter estate “New Towns” dumped in the middle of rural mud Norfolk without proper infrastructure, facilities, sustainable transport links or fit with the existing pattern of development.

The North Elmham New Town

The North Elmham New Town would also represent massive development of the precious River Wensum chalk stream habitats (not to mention a Site of Specific Scientific Interest).

That’s why I was delighted to chair a meeting on Friday in North Elmham with local parish councils and local councillors Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge to make clear that the idea of a new town in the area will NOT be supported by ourselves as elected local  representatives.

Bill and Gordon confirmed that Breckland Council are NOT zoning this area for major housebuilding, and will oppose a re-application of the New Town as we did successfully last time it was proposed.

New Towns and Garden Villages

Whilst there are places in the UK where there may be a strong case for a new generation of garden towns and villages, with all of the necessary infrastructure and transport links (either to drive regeneration as in parts of the post-industrial North, or to alleviate the pressure around major growth hits spots like Cambridge), North Elmham is not a sustainable location.

I can think of several possible sites in East Anglia that could perhaps take such a garden town or village: specifically the dilapidated station sites on the Cambridge-Ely-Brandon-Thetford-Attleborough-Wymondham-Norwich railway line – as part of the Oxford-Cambridge East-West Railway Development Company I have championed over the years, and especially during my time as Minister for the Future of Transport at the DfT.
 
However, I’ve also been very clear that, for any such development, we need to be sure that:

  1. Any such developments must avoid the loss of ancient woodland and high quality farmland
  2. We see a serious commitment to Net Zero and building into the plans a higher quality, cleaner, greener standard of life – not continuing to same old, lazy model of house dumping that sees thousands of additional vehicles tearing through old country lanes and causing more congestion and rat-running
  3. There is serious investment into public and private infrastructure – with proper road, rail, cycle and walking routes
  4. Any such development is planned appropriately and sustainably, and that it makes sense in the wider community context.

 
I have not seen any evidence to suggest that a garden town or village would be appropriate in this part of Mid Norfolk, and given the rural and inaccessible nature of North Elmham and the surrounding villages, the already serious congestion on the nearby road network and the nationally significant environmental and habitat importance of the Wensum Valley, I cannot envisage any circumstances in which this idea could be taken seriously.

To my mind, it would make far more sense for such a significant level of growth to be focussed down closer to the A11 Corridor – which Breckland Council themselves have, rightly, recognised is the key growth artery in our region and have tried to focus the bulk of the district’s future growth. I know the Leader of Breckland Council, Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, and both Cllr Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge strongly support this.

That’s why I was delighted to join the c12 local parish councils representing the areas that would be affected by this idea to make clear my opposition.

Next Steps

At the meeting we agreed some important Next Steps:

  • To reconvene a meeting of ALL the parish councils in the affected area after the forthcoming local elections on May 4th to make sure all write to Breckland Council formally to express their concerns.
  • Bill and Gordon and I will liaise to ensure all the local residents who object have their objections properly acknowledged by BDC.
  • I will invite my neighbouring MP, Jerome Mayhew, to join that follow-up meeting given a number of his Broadland communities are in close proximity to the site around North Elmham and would also be affected.
  • I will write to Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and the Minister for Housing to make clear why any New Towns and Garden Villages should only be  delivered in the right locations with the associated connectivity, infrastructure and services required) and not in inappropriate locations with the obvious environmental, sustainability and transport issues this scale of development would inevitably threaten.

 Please be assured that I will keep on this in the weeks and months ahead.