As was reported in the EADT, on June 1, the Green Party led East Suffolk District Council officially gave the green light to a large new housing development on Victoria Mill Road in Framlingham which directly conflicted with the Framlingham neighbourhood plan.

Less than a month into the life of a new Green and Liberal Democrat led East Suffolk District Council and we already have their first broken election promise.

It is unacceptable and cynical for the Green Party and Liberal Democrat council candidates to campaign on a platform of saying no to developers and then at the very first opportunity, give the green light to a controversial planning application against the Framlingham neighbourhood plan, and in total disregard for the views of both the Town Council and local residents.

Although as an MP, I have no direct control over local planning decisions, which must be made by district and borough councils, I had worked hard to support Framlingham Town Council in their justified opposition to these planning proposals.

Framlingham has already taken its fair share of development and to see more green fields concreted over in direct violation of the neighbourhood plan is a great disappointment.

Since I was first elected as an MP, I have campaigned tirelessly against inappropriate housing development.

Locally, I was proud to help lead the successful STOP the Ipswich Northern Bypass campaign and prevent up to 50,000 houses from concreting over the Suffolk countryside.

My view is simple - brownfield development should be prioritised over building on the green fields of the Suffolk countryside and that prime agricultural land should primarily be used for farming and the growing of food.

In Parliament, I have been proud to champion Conservative Government policies of localism and to support the introduction of laws to support more evidenced based planning policies directed by our local councils and based upon local needs developed through a local housing plan.

I have supported changes in the national planning framework to deliver a presumption of brownfield over greenfield development and to ensure that together with any housing development must also come health, school and other important infrastructure.

In spite of what has just happened, I believe it was right for the current Government to scrap the last Labour Government’s centrally imposed regional housing targets and to replace them with a requirement for local councils to develop their own local plans for future housing growth - putting the responsibility for housing development and planning firmly in the hands of our local councils.

Sitting underneath the district council's local housing plan, our towns and parishes have also been given the ability to develop their own neighbourhood plans which should (in theory) be supported by district councils - another big step forward in supporting better local involvement in the planning process.

In this case, Framlingham, used its new powers to develop a neighbourhood plan but East Suffolk Council chose to find reasons to ignore it.

Whilst I have long standing concerns about the pro-developer approach that is far too often adopted by council planning officers, it is elected councillors who always have the final say.

It is for elected councillors to take their own informed view about officer advice, planning policy and individual planning applications.

There were strong legal and planning grounds to reject this planning proposal in Victoria Mill Road in Framlingham and yet the new Green and Liberal Democrat councillors decided to side with both the planning officers and the developer and against the legitimate concerns of local residents.

In itself, it is bad enough that the new Green and Liberal Democrat administration ignored the Framlingham Neighbourhood Plan and the legitimate objections of the Town Council and local residents, but breaking key election promises so soon after an election was unprecedented, and will call into question people's faith in local politics.

At a time when faith in politicians is sometimes in short supply, breaking important election promises when there was no good reason to do so, discredits the democratic process and will result in the public losing faith in East Suffolk as a planning authority and as a council.

As Framlingham has found out the hard way, residents who put their faith in Liberal Democrat and Green council candidates to stop inappropriate development have been badly let down.

One thing is now for sure - vote Green to give the green light to developers and inappropriate housing developments.

For my part, I continue to hold the view that nationally imposed regional housing targets are a bad idea and shall continue to support new laws that encourage more local control over the planning process.

I only hope that in future, our borough and district councils use their planning powers more wisely.