THE North East mayor says leaders “mean business in our villages and towns” after backing a £17 million investment into coastal and countryside communities.

Help for businesses, protection for local wildlife and enhanced infrastructure for cut-off areas are all promised under a major plan for the region’s rural and seaside landscapes.

The North East Combined Authority (NECA) is to launch a new rural and coastal taskforce and signed off on an initial £17 million cash injection on Tuesday (November 26). 

That funding will be put towards proposals including a rural business advice service, interventions to support local food production, and nature recovery programmes across Northumberland, County Durham, and Tyne and Wear.

A wider vision backed by council leaders at the meeting in Morpeth details big ambitions to lower greenhouse gas emissions, increase tree and woodland cover, and reduce the disruption caused by storms, flooding, coastal erosion, and wildfires as the North East faces up to the threats of climate change.

There are also plans to deliver better services in outlying communities held back by a lack of infrastructure – including good quality, affordable housing, public transport, digital connectivity, and healthcare.

Mayor Kim McGuinness told colleagues that the measures “prove that we mean business in our villages and towns, as well as our cities”.

The Labour mayor said that the money agreed on Tuesday would be put towards protecting the “most outstandingly beautiful part of the country”, stretching all the way from Berwick to Barnard Castle.

It is hoped that the investment will help to lever in at least a further £25 million of regeneration funding from other sources over the next five years to help rural and coastal areas unlock their potential.

Northumberland County Council leader Glen Sanderson added that it was vital for urban and rural areas to work together and to put environmental issues at the heart of decision-making.

He criticised the UK’s “shameful” record on the loss of biodiversity but said it was a problem that “ we can fix together,  whether it is a small pond in an urban park or a whole range of other matters”.

Over the years, some sceptics of the idea of having a North East mayor have worried about the prospect of investment becoming too focused on Newcastle.

Durham County Council’s Amanda Hopgood called the rural and coastal plan a mark of “leading by example to show this is here to represent everyone in the North East, not just the cities”.