The Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, Luke Campbell, has sat down with the Local Democracy Reporting Service to discuss the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority’s long-term strategy to position the region as a competitive investment destination. The recently-published Local Growth Plan sets out a ten-year framework to grow the region’s economy.
The plan, which has been signed off by the Government, is built around four central pillars, dubbed the ‘Big Plays’. These areas look to focus and build upon the region’s strengths.
The ‘Big Plays’
- Powering our industrial future
- Backing local business
- Building skills and good work
- Connecting and enabling growth
The plans seeks to identify the region’s key investment opportunities. These are said to include the Humber Freeport sites in Hull and Goole, the major regeneration of Hull’s Western Docklands, and the long-term development potential of Bridlington Bay.
The Growth Plan details sites within the region with high potential for future housing, both in Hull and the East Riding. These include land South of Thorpe Hall in Howden which the document claims has a capacity of over 1,800 homes.
The Growth Plan includes the ‘Big Play Delivery Plans’ which seek to explain how each of the Big Plays will be acted upon. For example, the Growth Plan states that for the ‘backing local business’ Big Play, HEYCA will “identify and support industries and firms that have significant potential to drive growth in future and those that can directly connect to supply chains of growth driving sectors to support them to meet their full potential.”
“Yes it’s ambitious, but it should be,” the Mayor said. He added: “We can get there, we can do it. Everything in the Growth Plan is possible. That’s the exciting thing. There’s nothing in there that’s unrealistic.”
In other regions with more established Combined Authorities, improved public transport networks are often some of the most notable achievements for Mayors, such as Andy Burnham’s Bee Network in Greater Manchester. Mr Campbell has praised the Bee Network in the past and has explained that improving connections between places within the region is a priority for his team.
The Mayor said: “We’re in the process of setting up consultations and me going round the region, talking to people on the doorsteps, talking to local Parish Councils and residents on what their needs are for transport and what’s missing. All that residents are after is a reliable, affordable way for them to get from A to B as smooth as possible.”
“We do a lot of services to York from Market Weighton and Beverley, they’re always busy. But I want to drive our economy towards Hull. I want people in the region to spend in the region. I don’t want to drive people out of the region to go spend in York, Sheffield, Leeds, or Manchester.”
By: Andrew Spence, LDRS
