From digital economies to better health and housing, countryside communities have been asked what Norfolk's funding priorities must be to ensure a thriving rural future.

Norfolk County Council has launched a consultation on its rural strategy for the next three years, setting out a blueprint for "positive change" - and it says public feedback is vital to its success.

By 2024, Norfolk will have to embrace many new challenges which could fundamentally change the rural economy.

They include the legacy of Covid-19, which has accelerated long-term trends such as workplace digitalisation, online retailing, a rapid growth in remote working and an increasing desire for local products - all of which could bring significant changes in employment and travel patterns, and increase the already-vital need for better digital connectivity.

Meanwhile Brexit is changing how farmers are funded for environmental work, and the grant programmes for rural innovation and skills development are evolving amid new national policies focusing on carbon reduction and clean growth.

So, within this shifting landscape, project leaders said the community must make their case for what the priorities must be.

Graham Plant, Norfolk's cabinet member for growing the economy, said: “We are really interested in what the community – our residents, businesses, partnerships and academic institutions - think about how we could deliver the vibrant, healthy rural communities of the future.

"Could the role of your market town change, how do we use our world class environment to support our vital tourism sector and how can the growth of clean energy fuel our homes and lives?

"With an ageing population, rural Norfolk is also in the frontline of changes in healthcare needs and need to understand how new technology can help meet future service delivery and business needs."

Eastern Daily Press: Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council's cabinet member for growing the economyGraham Plant, Norfolk County Council's cabinet member for growing the economy (Image: Archant)

Previous versions of the Norfolk Rural Strategy have been used to secure funding for community and small business projects, and also initiated campaigns to improve rural digital connectivity and develop a detailed database of the county's "natural capital assets".

Martin Collison of rural consultants Collison and Associates, which is working with the council on the project, said any new projects needed to demonstrate public support in order to secure funding.

"The steering group’s ambition is that as the UK develops plans for the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will average £1.5bn per year, we must ensure we have the project ideas which will deliver on rural priorities," he said.

"But we also need to ensure that mainstream funding - such as large national budgets for education, health and transport - recognises and supports the needs of our rural communities.”