Literally hundreds of people have worked together to create Make It York and I am honoured to serve as its first chair.

Myself and the board of directors pledge to work hard on your behalf to deliver on the potential for the city and the surrounding area.

York plays a crucial role in the economic and cultural life of the North and can claim strategically significant connections North, South, East and West, back in time and into the future. But places cannot function effectively without true respect for a wide range of perspectives.

One of our roles at Make It York is to understand the complex economic and cultural geography which makes a city tick, and to use our networks to problem solve and to spot opportunities.

As I write, 200,000 people live in York, we have 8,000 businesses, 22,500 students with us every year and we welcome 6.7 million visitors, just to the city.

That is a lot of people to serve, and if you add in our neighbours and partners, it is clear that no one organisation can achieve anything by working alone. Maintaining effective partnerships is key to the success of our part of the world and Make It York was created by you and your organisation because you share that ethos.

As we mature we will be judged on whether we helped York and the surrounding area to grow and develop, or did we just add another layer of duplication? Every May we will gather together with you, and new partners and friends, to ask how we did. We will be judged on results and be held to account by you, as your success is our goal.