Yorkshire Business Insider editor Ian Leech caught up with York and North Yorkshire mayor David Skaith following a meeting in York between the Northern mayors and leaders on their Manifesto for the North.
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00:00Right, I'm joined by David Scathes, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire. Thank you David,
00:14thanks for joining us. I just want to recap what you've been talking about today with
00:18the fellow Northern Mayors.
00:19Yes, it's been a great opportunity today to bring all the Northern Mayors here today
00:25and other leaders in our region to have a collective conversation in collaboration of
00:31working on how we're going to tackle some of the major issues in the North in particular
00:35and really showcase to the Government that the North has so much opportunity and so much
00:39strength particularly around economic potential that we are coming together, we've been proactive
00:44and saying to the Government, this is where we think we can go, this is our strength,
00:48this is our opportunity, work with us. Rather than being led by Government, we've been
00:51proactive and really got our nuts in foot.
00:53Yes, okay. The advantages particularly for your area, York and North Yorkshire, do you
00:58think? I was interested, for example, in the creative businesses angle.
01:02Yes, so it's the really exciting thing about our region in particular is we have so much
01:06to offer because of the sheer nature of York and North Yorkshire. We're not just an urbanised
01:11central location, we have so much rural and coastal opportunity as well. So we're talking
01:16about business and investment and economic growth, we're talking about digital and creatives
01:20which is a key part of particularly York. But then you go into agri-tech, biotech, food
01:26and farming industries which is dominated in North Yorkshire. There's so much of that
01:29R&D, that research development around those industries is at University of York, is at
01:34Aston Bryant, is at Ferra. So we've got the whole thing here and we're the only region
01:39that can really talk on the level around those two industries. So that really stands us apart.
01:44So it means we can work in collaboration with the North but also we have our own unique
01:48opportunities to York and North Yorkshire that other mayors will have it in their regions
01:52also. So it's not in competition, it's working in collaboration and we have some things that
01:56really stand us apart.
01:57Great, great. Well, we're glad to see the implementation and roll out growth of that.
02:01Thank you David. So we were just saying there weren't we, you're not, the Americans are
02:05obsessed about the first 100 days in a job but you're about 60 so two months in now,
02:10how's it gone so far?
02:11Yeah, so we have just come past the 100 day period. It's been an incredible exciting time.
02:17We obviously had three weeks as we came in, then we went into a general election and then
02:21we've had obviously the summer recess so that's obviously held us like another break in there
02:26as well but we've been working flat out. We are a growing organisation now, we're growing
02:30at pace but also we are still bringing in our leads on certain areas. So we're hiring
02:35our head of legal tomorrow as an example. But you know, it's been a super exciting time.
02:41We have a pipeline of projects that the team before I came in were already working on.
02:46It was the old let, the local enterprise partnership is where the combined authorities come from,
02:51working with both York and North Yorkshire Council. So we already had a pipeline of projects
02:55coming through. We've been able to carry on those and now develop new ones. But also what
03:00we've been able to do is work closely with government because they want to see our growth
03:02plan, which has been a really exciting piece of work that we can put together. So our growth
03:06plan over the next 10 years to really highlight our potential and our economic opportunities
03:11in our region that are unique to us. So it's been fast paced, it's been 100 miles now,
03:17there hasn't been a lot of time off, almost no time off, but it's a really exciting time
03:20for our region.
03:21Excellent. And would you highlight one pleasant discovery since you've been in office, something
03:26you weren't expecting?
03:28I think the big thing is it's that kind of idea of we are a region that's just beyond
03:32expectation. You think of York and North Yorkshire, you might think of it's nice, it's rural,
03:36it's leafy and it is all that and it is in that space and we should be proud of that.
03:40But there's so much potential we have in our region. We are literally world leaders in
03:45areas around agriculture, in food and farming, in those sectors and we can really lead the
03:51way on that. This is an area that as a region we can really drive that growth, that economic
03:56potential around agrotech, biotech, food and farming right here in York and North Yorkshire.
04:01So I think the thing that's been so exciting is we have so much fantastic work already
04:05going on, we have now an opportunity to really bring that all together in collaboration with
04:10the other northern mayors, other leaders and really showcase how fantastic York and North
04:14Yorkshire is and how we can play a key part of that bigger puzzle.
04:18And you sense a growing focus from central government now under a news buzzer in the
04:22Labour government of the north?
04:24Oh absolutely. I mean, within the first four days after the general election, Keir, Angela
04:28and Rachel invited all the mayors down to number 10 to sit around that top table and
04:33really discuss each individual's region. And the fact that we've got well-established
04:37mayors, people like Andy Burnham, Steve Rother, Tracy, Oliver, who have been around for quite
04:42a few years now, have really showcased how powerful and how influential and how successful
04:47mayors can be. The fact that we have myself in York and North Yorkshire, who can deliver
04:52that as well, working in collaboration with those well-established mayors so we can get
04:56to where they are much quicker because we can learn from these other mayors and we can
05:01work in collaboration. That's how we're going to succeed for our region.