Norfolk Rural Economic Strategy

Since 2013 Norfolk County Council has led a steering group of public, private and voluntary sector partners to produce and deliver a three-year Rural Economic Strategy for Norfolk.

The strategy's underpinning principles are to:

Be ambitious for rural Norfolk, so it delivers a dynamic, sustainable economy and quality of life for all
Make the case for ural Norfolk to decision makers at every level - from parish to national government
Provide the underpinning evidence base to make the case for investment
Adopt an intervention approach of:
- Assessing what is already going around the county to address the challenges and opportunities that the evidence base and strategy identify, and pinpoint gaps in provision
- Learning from, and working with other areas - our neighbouring counties, rural areas elsewhere in the UK and overseas - to build on best practice models of rural economic development and produce a pipeline of projects that delivers on the themes of the strategy

The 2021-24 strategy (PDF) [2MB] was consulted on with a wide ranged of partners, and endorsed by Norfolk County Council's Cabinet in December 2021.

A Delivery Plan is being prepared, and will take account of the government guidance for new funding streams - such as the Shared Prosperity Fund, which is due to launch in Spring 2022.

The strategy's priority themes

New rural economy and market towns
World class environment and the green economy
Community resilience
Skills and rural innovation
Digitalisation and technology adoption
Modern infrastructure

Rural data

To help make the case for investment, and support the development of funding bids, check out the data and tools in the Rural Economy section of Norfolk Insight.

How you can help

We are developing a delivery plan for the strategy, which will include project bids for Government funding. Email your ideas for projects that deliver on the themes of the strategy to: GandDPolicy@norfolk.gov.uk.

View the 2017-2020 strategy (PDF) [3MB]