Rural communities across the UK are at a pivotal moment. We are all experiencing similar pressures: ageing populations, infrastructure gaps, and economies that have not always kept pace with national growth. But alongside these challenges sits something far more powerful, opportunity. Opportunity to rethink how rural places grow, develop, innovate, and contribute to the UK’s future prosperity.
As I prepare to join colleagues and partners in Leeds at UKREiiF 2026 for the panel session “Rural Communities – Challenges and Opportunities,” I want to share why I believe Northumberland is not only navigating this crossroads but helping define a path forward.
A Strategy developed for Northumberland
Northumberland’s Economic Strategy 2035 sets out a clear ambition: to become one of the UK’s leading rural economies. With more than 97% of our land classified as non-developed, our future will not be built by replicating urban growth models. Instead, it will come from harnessing the distinctive strengths of rural places - strong communities, rich heritage and culture, exceptional natural capital, and the space to innovate and scale.
In Northumberland, we are aligning these strengths with regional and national priorities, from net zero to digital transformation, to create a model of growth that works because we are rural, not in spite of it.
Challenges that once constrained growth are increasingly becoming catalysts for innovation. We are accelerating investment in digital connectivity, advancing clean energy infrastructure, and working closely with the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority and regional and local partners to unlock inclusive and sustainable growth across the county.
Investing in People and Skills
Demographic change is reshaping communities across the UK, but its impact is often felt more acutely in rural areas. We are seeing longer-term trends play out: older populations choosing to settle in places like Northumberland for quality of life, while younger people have historically moved away for education and employment opportunities.
That picture is starting to change.
Increasingly, rural areas are becoming more attractive to younger people and families, drawn by lifestyle, new employment opportunities, culture and heritage and improved connectivity. In response, we are continuing to invest in our places and are rethinking how we approach skills, workforce development and lifelong learning in a rural context.
This means working closely with partners such as Northumberland Skills, Northumberland College and regional universities, while also embracing more innovative approaches, such as developing digital platforms to connect people to opportunities and exploring more flexible, localised learning models, including satellite provision, to ensure people can access training and opportunities wherever they are in the county.
One of the most persistent challenges in rural economies is not the absence of opportunity, but the difficulty of matching people to it. Dispersed populations, transport barriers, and fragmented employment support systems mean that even where jobs exist, people can struggle to access them - and employers can struggle to find and retain local talent.
That is why we have worked with the Rural Design Centre to develop a rural jobs platform designed specifically for the realities of rural employment. For employers, it will provide a practical route to reaching qualified local candidates. For residents, it will create clearer pathways into employment and support. For partners, it will generate real-time insight into skills gaps, training needs, and service coordination.
Our focus on aligning skills with industry need and supporting residents to access opportunities is already delivering results across Northumberland’s priority sectors.
A key example is the Energy Central Campus in Blyth — a £14 million STEM and vocational training facility creating a dedicated pipeline of green skills to support the energy transition.
The campus builds on the wider strength of Energy Central, a nationally significant partnership anchored at the Port of Blyth, alongside innovation assets such as the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and a growing cluster of more than 50 renewable energy businesses.
Together, this ecosystem is positioning Northumberland at the forefront of the UK’s clean energy future.
Building on this momentum, plans for a further £25 million Energy Institute will deepen our capability in innovation, higher-level skills, and research, strengthening Northumberland’s role as a centre of excellence for clean energy and advanced technologies.
Offshore renewable energy is now firmly established as one of Northumberland’s five priority sectors. Employment in the sector has grown significantly in recent years, and with the UK targeting 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, the scale of future opportunity is substantial.
The Foundational Economy: Everyday Strength, Long-Term Resilience
No conversation about rural growth is complete without recognising what holds it all together.
In Northumberland, the Foundational Economy, encompassing health and social care, food and drink, retail, construction, tourism, and land-based industries, is the single largest driver of employment and economic output in the county. It accounts for 45% of our total GVA (£2.8 billion) and employs around 57,000 people, more than half of our entire workforce.
This is not a peripheral or transitional part of our economy. It is its backbone.
These are the sectors that keep communities functioning, that circulate wealth locally, and that provide accessible routes into employment for people of all ages, skills, and backgrounds. Our Economic Strategy 2035 is explicit: a thriving Foundational Economy is a precondition for growth in every other sector.
Often overlooked in conversations about growth and innovation, land-based industries are fundamental to Northumberland's identity, resilience, and economic future. Agriculture, forestry, horticulture, and the wider rural land economy are not legacies of a previous era, they are living, evolving sectors that underpin food security, sustain rural livelihoods, and provide the landscape upon which so much of our wider economy depends.
The region's scale, landscape diversity, and agricultural heritage make it the UK's leading testbed for AI-driven rural innovation and a priority for the North East AI Growth Zone which in turn can strengthen national resilience, food security, and environmental stewardship. That is not an aspiration; it is a capability we already have, and it connects directly to what is happening on Northumberland right now precision agriculture, agri-tech, drone technology, biopharmaceutical applications, and nature-based enterprise models are opening new frontiers.
Our rural economy depends on a diverse and complementary mix of sectors and tourism is written in every chapter of our story. In Northumberland, tourism is not simply a seasonal activity; it is a cornerstone of our rural economy, supporting thousands of jobs and businesses across hospitality, culture, heritage, and the natural environment. The county attracts over 10 million visitors annually, generating more than £1.4 billion and supporting over 14,500 jobs, around a quarter of the county’s foundational workforce. From the Northumberland Coast National Landscape and the mighty UNSESCO World Heritage Site Hadrian’s Wall to Northumberland’s International Dark Sky Park which is the largest in the UK - our rural tourism economy has experiences to offer that are out of this world.
Through Visit Northumberland, our accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnership, we are working to grow this sector sustainably, enhance the visitor experience, and maximise the benefits for local communities. As an officer member supporting the Visit Northumberland governance structure, I work alongside partners and industry leaders to help shape the strategic direction of the visitor economy and ensure it continues to play a vital role in Northumberland’s growth.
A key part of this evolving offer is the newly launched Taste of Northumberland initiative, a county-wide programme linking key components of our foundational economy - bringing together local producers, hospitality businesses and retailers under a single, trusted mark that celebrates the provenance, quality and diversity of Northumberland’s food and drink. Developed in partnership with Visit Northumberland and Food and Drink North East, the initiative not only promotes our rich food heritage, from land to sea, but also strengthens local supply chains, supports business growth and helps visitors connect more deeply with the place through its culinary identity.
We are proud to be showcasing this at UKREiiF, where Northumberland will host a Taste of Northumberland lunch takeover on the North East England Pavilion on day one (12:30–13:30), bringing a flavour of the county to the national stage and highlighting the strength of our food and drink sector as part of our wider visitor economy.
A Diverse and Future-Facing Economy
Northumberland is building a diverse and future-facing economy. We are capitalising on our strengths in clean energy and offshore supply chains, leveraging our industrial heritage to drive growth in advanced manufacturing, and unlocking transformational opportunities through major investments such as the £10 billion Blackstone QTS Cambois Data Centre Campus, positioning the county at the forefront of the UK’s digital and technology sectors. our land-based industries remain fundamental, underpinning food security, supporting rural livelihoods, and reinforcing the resilience and sustainability of our economy.
As we continue to scale these opportunities, Northumberland is becoming an increasingly compelling proposition for investment. At UKREiiF, we are looking to engage with investors, developers and occupiers to showcase the breadth of opportunities across the county, from our energy and manufacturing clusters to our nationally significant growth locations, including the North East AI Growth Zone and Investment Zone sites in south east Northumberland. We are not just promoting opportunity, we are inviting partners to be part of a growing, ambitious county with the capacity, connectivity and vision to deliver long-term, sustainable growth.
This balanced approach is creating a more resilient and future-facing economy. We are already seeing increased inward investment, growth in sectors aligned with net zero, and rising demand for high-quality employment land and premises. Crucially, we are also seeing growing recognition that rural areas like Northumberland offer something unique: a combination of economic opportunity and exceptional quality of life.
Our role as a local authority is to enable and accelerate this growth. We work closely with investors, developers, and businesses to unlock opportunities and remove barriers. Access to finance remains one of the biggest challenges for rural businesses, which is why we are launching the Northumberland Growth Fund, a £110 million investment vehicle designed to support scaling businesses, enable inward investment, and provide flexible debt and equity finance.
This fund is a practical demonstration of how local innovation can complement national programmes, ensuring that investment reaches the places where it can have the greatest impact.
The future of rural Britain will not be shaped by one place alone. It will be driven by collaboration, between local leaders, national government, investors, and communities. Rural Britain’s future isn’t just something to discuss; it is something we are actively building. In Northumberland, that future is already taking shape.