Half the population of North Lincolnshire (72,000 people) live in rural areas. Maintaining urban/rural focus, links, and equality of opportunity is essential for integrated development.
The Rural Strategy for North Lincolnshire promotes an improvement in the quality of life in rural North Lincolnshire through sustainable economic, social and environmental development tailored to identify needs. The two-faceted approach of the Strategy seeks an integrated development and delivery for the whole of the rural area focussing on key towns and rural capitals to be achieved through joint working practice involving cross-sector partnership initiatives. In order to promote integrated development and delivery through a 'bottom-up' consultative approach the Strategy advocates the adoption of key rural activity zones, namely:
- The Isle of Axholme to the west
- Barton, Winterton and the northern/eastern villages
- Brigg and the southern villages.
This provides North Lincolnshire with a clear strategic direction encompassing the thematic delivery of goods and services in line with Yorkshire Forward and Defra policy and the systematic delivery of key geographical projects focussed on rural 'capitals' and their hinterlands: these being Epworth and Crowle; Brigg; and Barton.
Activity will complement and be underpinned by and complement former Rural Pathfinder principles and have strategic fit with all relevant local, regional and national policies/priorities - as detailed in the rural strategy for North Lincolnshire - through co-ordinated local delivery of rural services and expenditure.