One of the great things about my job is the diversity of the projects and the places that I become involved in. Working in North Yorkshire means that I can be in the City of York or town of Harrogate one day and at the heart of the Dales in the far north of the region the next.

The mainly rural focus of my patch in North Yorkshire also means that I am able to use the knowledge and experience of rural issues that I gained working for the Rural Development Commission prior to the existence of the Regional Development Agency. To anyone coming across Yorkshire Forward's activities for the first time our remit seems extensive, but ultimately we are responsible for growing the region's economy through three key activities – helping people to get jobs, developing our towns and cities and assisting businesses to find new markets.

Our largest rural programme is the Renaissance Market Towns programme, where we work with the larger rural communities like Knaresborough, Northallerton and Boroughbridge to make changes that the communities and the local authorities that serve them see as vital to their future economic wellbeing.

While some may see this as focusing on larger strategic projects, the effects of our investments in market towns are beneficial to the smaller surrounding towns and villages that use their local amenities.

In addition to this Renaissance Market Towns activity, over the last two years Yorkshire Forward has supported a wide range of community based projects that have provided additional facilities in smaller towns.

These include the development of village/ community halls, community offices, training schemes, and sports/play areas. We have also supported Local environmental improvements, local transport schemes, social inclusion programmes and tourism businesses.

For example, the Wensleydale Centre now has a health facility, training suite and treatment area where it once had disused dormitories, and West Witton village hall has been extended to provide more space for pre-school sessions and other community activities.

Investment in projects like these can make a real difference to rural communities, where local facilities are often limited and buildings have to be multi-functional. In order to extend this flexibility to rural business premises, we have recently launched a pilot programme that aims to enable retail businesses in rural locations to diversify and add to the services that they offer.

Existing businesses like independently owned filling stations or village shops that are already planning significant changes can apply to Business Link Yorkshire – they are managing the programme on Yorkshire Forward's behalf.

We are also working with our communities and key organisations in our rural areas to establish community development partnerships, taking forward the EU rural initiative LEADER within the region. This is one of our key responsibilities under the Rural Development Programme for England and both Yorkshire businesses and communities stand to benefit from investment through this activity into the future.

Rural areas are important to the delivery of the Regional Economic Strategy for Yorkshire and Humber and Yorkshire Forward will continue to work to ensure they are places where people want to live, work, rest and visit.