West Yorkshire launches flagship economic plan to grow six business sectors in £7bn bid for growth
West Yorkshire leaders have committed to a new, flagship economic approach following the approval of six “Cluster Action Plans” at the most recent meeting of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The plans will kickstart a new era of ambitious public-private partnerships, designed to spur on multibillion-pound business growth opportunities and create tens of thousands of good jobs.
The new plans will see six sectors targeted for investment and support, as the West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin looks to build the right infrastructure for businesses to thrive.
Firms will be supported with access to finance, skills, workspace, innovation, markets and promotion, and benefit from unprecedented investment to build a better-connected region, through the creation of an integrated Weaver network that brings together trams, trains, publicly run bus services and walking and cycling routes.
Two years in the planning, each of these six ambitious sector plans represents a major step forward in realising the region’s £7bn growth plan, signalling a clear shift from strategic ambition to a program of real delivery.
The first priority of the Local Growth Plan, launched in December of last year, is to boost the region’s fastest growing business sectors, in order to create jobs and economic growth at speed and at scale.
Demonstrating the best of what devolution can offer, the plans represent “one of the most ambitious growth plans in the country”.
Tracy said: “The approval of these new plans will be a genuine catalyst for growth and a gamechanger for our region.
“By focusing our collective energy on the sectors where we have world-class strengths, we are sending a clear message to the world: West Yorkshire is where opportunity lives.
“We are not just talking about growth – we are delivering it through a new, dynamic partnership with our brilliant businesses, creating skilled jobs and powering our region’s contribution to the UK’s economic success.”
The sectors which will be targeted for major growth opportunities are:
· Advancing Manufacturing: The North’s largest manufacturing workforce employing 112,000 people, producing components for global sectors from aerospace to construction.
· Financial and Professional Services: England’s second-biggest financial district, home to the Bank of England, National Wealth Fund, Financial Conduct Authority, and other major national institutions and international businesses.
· Healthtech: Globally recognised leader in health innovation, supported by Europe’s largest teaching hospital and the Combined Authority’s £160m investment programme for healthtech and digital tech.
· Digital and Technology: The UK’s number one location for tech scale-ups and home to cutting-edge AI and data analytics specialists.
· Creative Industries: A dynamic sector that is a national “priority place” for government investment, in the unparalleled year of Bradford’s City of Culture and the lauded Turner Prize.
· Green Economy: At the forefront of the UK’s green industrial revolution, a growing green economy driving the region’s transition to net-zero by 2038.
Timed to coincide with the two-week ‘Bradford Manufacturing Weeks’ festival, the Combined Authority has been given the green light to ambitiously support the business sectors where the region has world-beating strengths, and real potential to drive investment that benefits local communities.
A direct result of listening carefully to global, national and local businesses over the past two years, each of the six business-led cluster plans sees the Combined Authority pioneering a new model of public-private partnerships, providing each sector with a dedicated plan of action to drive innovation and develop specialist skills to help them grow and succeed.
Mandy Ridyard, mayor’s business advisor and chair of the West Yorkshire Business Board, said: “The approval of these plans is a significant moment for our business community.
“The clarity and focus of the cluster approach gives businesses the confidence that we have a robust, long-term plan in place to drive sustainable growth.
“This joined-up approach will be the catalyst for the next decade of prosperity.”
Combined Authority interventions to support each sector include:
· Advancing Manufacturing: Leveraging the North’s largest manufacturing workforce of over 112,000 people, the Combined Authority is investing nearly £1.6m to help ensure a pipeline of talent for major infrastructure projects like the future Mass Transit system and affordable housebuilding programme.
· Financial and Professional Services: As England’s biggest financial district outside of London, the Financial and Professional Services cluster plan will support growth in start-ups and scale-ups by delivering a new West Yorkshire FinTech accelerator. This initiative will work with partners to open large-scale datasets, enabling firms to test AI/Machine Learning models and risk analytics tools.
· Healthtech: Cementing West Yorkshire’s position as a world-leading centre for digital health innovation, this sector is supported by a £160m investment programme, Europe’s largest teaching hospital and a globally significant business cluster. The plan includes leveraging existing partnerships, such as the West Yorkshire-Nashville “Healthtech Bridge”, which has been the foundation for exploring new collaborative opportunities following last year’s trade mission.
· Digital and Technology: As the UK’s number one location for tech scale-ups, the plan is designed to accelerate growth in specialisms like AI and data analytics across the region. Tangible interventions will include building new, international strategic relationships as part of an AI alliance and developing world-class infrastructure, such as the new Microsoft hyperscale data centre in Leeds.
· Green Economy: Driven by the commitment to achieve net-zero carbon by 2038, the plan supports the growth of the sector to a projected £11.1bn by 2026. Tangible interventions include the Home Energy West Yorkshire retrofit program, which is designed to improve energy efficiency and support the creation of up to 30,000 well-paid jobs in the green sector, and a business support program that has already helped businesses to access £126m in new sales opportunities.
· Creative Industries: As one of six national “priority places” for the creative industries, West Yorkshire has secured a share of £150m in government funding to accelerate new initiatives and attract private investment. Announced last week alongside the signing of a major new partnership with Sport England, the action plan aims to nearly double the size of this sector to £4.1bn, creating 50,000 new jobs by 2035.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, director of inclusive economy, skills and culture at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, said: “We have worked hard with our partners to create one of the most ambitious growth plans in the country, putting West Yorkshire firmly on the map.
“This cluster-led approach sends a clear signal to local, national and global businesses, that this is a region with a clear, confident plan for the future.”
Building on the success of the recent trade mission to Nashville, USA, West Yorkshire is also developing its ambitions for global trade. The West Yorkshire Mayor will be embarking on a series of trade missions over the next year to further champion target sectors, underlining a vision for creating a dynamic region where opportunity lives.
The approval of the six plans follows the crowning of Leeds as “the funky sibling to the City of London” by The Sunday Times, for its unrivalled strength in supporting the growth of multibillion-dollar financial technology companies such as GoCardless.
Announcing their opening of a Northern Hub in the heart of the ‘Northern Square Mile’ this week, they follow in the footsteps of other major international businesses such as PEXA, QBE, Markel and Julius Baer.