THE new chief of an organisation set up to help revitalise Cumbria's rural economy believes the body needs more than its allotted five years to achieve its objectives.

Kate Willard has taken over the helm of Hackthorpe-based Rural Regeneration Cumbria, formed in the wake of foot-and-mouth that left the county's economy reeling.

As Britain's first-ever rural regeneration company, the organisation has a five-year, £39 million budget and a remit to rebuild and develop a dynamic rural economy.

But Kate is convinced it will take more than five years to lay the foundations for future prosperity in the county, and says more time and investment will be needed to achieve these goals.

The RRC has already committed £29 million of its budget on a variety of projects, aimed at attracting and developing new industries as well as supporting agriculture and tourism, and has created or supported 355 jobs.

One example is the £9.8m Farming Connect project, providing integrated advice and financial support to the industry. "The response from agriculture has been overwhelming and we have been inundated with requests for support," Kate told Business Gazette.

The RRC has injected more money into tourism, giving Cumbria Tourist Board funds to run marketing campaigns aimed at attracting more visitors to the county and widening the customer base.

Efforts are also being made to boost the county's burgeoning outdoor sector, ranging from retail to training providers, while a new package of support and financial aid has just been launched for the county's so-called creative industries (see panel above).

In addition to short-term support, Kate says RRC is also looking at the bigger picture, considering the potential of major projects such as the restoring the northern reaches of Lancaster-Kendal canal, expanding Carlisle airport and developing an optical Ethernet an ultra-fast version of broadband that could offer internet access 200 times faster than the dial-up modem method.

She is also convinced that Cumbria is not making the most of existing funding opportunities, especially the amount of public money available at Government and European level. It is a gap she expects to be filled by the county's new strategic body, Cumbria Vision.

Some have questioned the wisdom of creating yet another organisation charged with reviving the county's economic fortunes, to be headed by Staveley businessman David Brockbank as chairman and Cumbria Tourist Board chief Chris Collier as chief executive.

But Kate, who lives with her two daughters at Witherslack, is fully behind the new body and says that, with the pragmatic Mr Brockbank at the helm, Cumbria Vision stands the best chance of success.

With five years of experience heading international initiatives for the European Commission under her belt, Kate knows what it takes to take charge of major projects.

After training as an actress and studying as an apprentice at the Theatre Royal in Stratford East, London, she developed a keen interest in community theatre and went on to become associate director of the Liverpool Playhouse.

Kate moved to Cumbria six years ago and jumped at the chance to work for the country's first-ever rural regeneration company. She joined RRC as a programme manager some 18 months ago, specialising in social and community regeneration.

A self-confessed born optimist, the fast-talking Kate comes across as friendly yet businesslike, a person whose knowledge and enthusiasm for her subject is infectious, and someone who appears to relish the scale of the challenges ahead.

Whether she succeeds in her ambition of a longer-term solution to rural Cumbria's economic ails remains to be seen, but it will not be for the want of trying.