Economy

Our plan will stimulate economic recovery leading to the creation of a strong, enterprising, productive and broad-based economy, and the growth of a wide range of economic sectors, supported by an increasingly skilled workforce. We will see a focus on our local strengths in knowledge intensive sectors. This will include significant growth in digital creative industries in the city centre and in health, life sciences, agri- and bio- technology at the Norwich Research Park and the Food Enterprise Park at Honingham, along with advanced manufacturing and engineering at Hethel. This clean growth will place Greater Norwich at the forefront of tackling the global challenges and opportunities of energy, environment, life sciences, genetics and climate change. Together these will strengthen our leading role nationally and internationally in these sectors which will be critical to moving towards the post-carbon economy.

Most of the jobs growth we expect to see will be delivered on key strategic sites in and around Norwich with good access to public transport, the major road network and a comprehensive cycling network. This will contribute to the growing national importance of the Cambridge Norwich Tech Corridor and strengthen Norwich’s role as the regional capital.

The city centre will continue to play a significant role as the economic dynamo of the area by providing excellent retail and leisure facilities along with a broad range of cultural and tourism attractions and new jobs needed to support housing growth across the Greater Norwich area.

Parallel to this, the role of smaller scale employment sites elsewhere in the urban area, market towns and villages will help to deliver good access to jobs for all. New technologies and improved broadband and mobile phone infrastructure will also facilitate changes to the way we work, including the growth of small-scale businesses, more working from home and remote working.