It’s been a busy time, but here is a small roundup of what’s been happening.
In recent months, I have been fighting hard for those affected by the dreadful Post Office ‘Horizon’ scandal. After 20 years, the hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted for false accounting and theft have started to be able to clear their names. The problems arose because of faults in the Fujitsu IT system used by the Post Office for its transactions. I believe it is high time those wrongly accused are properly compensated for all they have gone through. I called for the Prime Minister to allow a statutory inquiry in April and in May I was delighted that this was granted.
Good news this month, with North Walsham being awarded a £90,000 grant from Historic England’s High Streets Heritage Action Zones programme. This is a nationwide initiative designed to secure lasting improvements to our historic high streets for the communities which use them. I continue to push hard for more recognition of, and more investment in all our communities in North Norfolk. I am delighted that we are one of the top 100 places in the country to be eligible to apply for the UK Community Renewal Fund, the little brother of the UK Levelling Up fund. If we are successful, the money will be well spent on improving jobs and growth for the area.
A recent debate on NHS dentistry in Waveney provided an opportunity to highlight the challenges we face in North Norfolk with long waiting lists and a shortage of dentists. In spite of this being such an amazing area to live and work in, there are real difficulties in recruiting sufficient dentists to work in North Norfolk, and I will continue to advocate for changes to contract arrangements to ensure we are able to address this longstanding problem.
And finally this month: have you ever thought about creating a wildlife garden? Whether it’s a whole garden or a small corner of your existing garden, providing the water, food, and shelter to help our wildlife to thrive is something we can all do. Cromer Green Spaces has plenty of guidance to help you get started, at www.cromergreenspaces.co.uk. For those who live in Cromer, there’s even the chance to enter their Wildlife Gardening Competition too.
As ever, if you need any help with a local issue or concern, please do contact me on 01692 557140 or [email protected].
