Norfolk's Local Growth Plan

The Local Growth Plan is our strategy for growing Norfolk's economy and supporting the people who live and work here.

This five-year plan will act as a policy for Norfolk County Council. It will also:

Inform the Strategic Skills Plan, Norfolk Infrastructure Delivery Plan, and other county and district level strategies
Serve as a framework for a wide range of partners including district councils, education institutes, and the private sector

The draft plan is currently being reviewed, and we aim to publish the final plan in late 2024.

Strategic themes

The draft plan provides an overview of Norfolk's economy and outlines key areas we need to focus on to drive economic growth.

We built the plan on four strategic pillars:

Local business
People and skills
Infrastructure
Placemaking and community

Norfolk's strengths, opportunities, and challenges for growth are listed against these pillars.

The plan also has three crosscutting themes:

Decarbonisation and sustainability
Supporting rural and coastal economies
Reducing inequalities

Key priorities

The draft plan sets out our ambition to:

Grow the Norfolk economy in a way that is inclusive and sustainable, meeting the different needs of urban, rural and coastal Norfolk
Improve the level of productivity
Support the creation of higher wage jobs

We will achieve these goals by capitalising on high-growth assets in our key sectors:

Clean energy
Agri-food and agri-tech
Advanced manufacturing and engineering
Digital and ICT
Financial services

It's equally important that we support the foundational economy in Norfolk. This includes agriculture, health and social care, and the visitor economy.

Developing the plan

Norfolk County Council worked with Metro Dynamics and the Norfolk Office for Data Analytics (NODA) to develop the draft plan.

We developed the Local Growth Plan in four phases:

Building the evidence base and developing the logic model
Engaging with over 500 stakeholders - including businesses, VCSE organisations, skills providers, and district councils
Developing the strategic narrative for the plan
Drafting the plan

The Business Board, district councils, and the Norfolk Public Sector Leaders Group are currently reviewing the plan. We will present it to Norfolk County Council's Cabinet for approval in November 2024.