French focus for York investment (From York Press)

French focus for York investment

9:21am Thursday 14th March 2013 in Business news

Katie Stewart, City of York Council's head of economic development, at the MIPIM conference

YORK’S ambitions to be one of Europe’s top ten economic cities have been displayed to the world’s most influential investors at a property conference in France.

Katie Stewart, City of York Council’s head of economic development, and Darren Richardson, director of city and environmental services, are showcasing York and its development sites at the MIPIM event in Cannes, to try to attract investment.

They hosted the City of York: Historic City, Modern Economy exhibition, also highlighting York’s goal of becoming a top-five UK city economy and Europe’s most digitally connected city by 2015. Delegates heard York was a “quality business destination with an exceptionally-qualified workforce” and one of the UK’s fastest growing economies.

The York officials are among a Leeds City Region MIPIM delegation. Ms Stewart said: “We’ve already found the event to be incredibly useful and have held targeted meetings with potential investors and partners, from which we have expressions of interest.

"We can see exactly the scale of the competition we are up against in this global marketplace for cities, and are confident the York offer is a serious contender.”

Mr Richardson said: “We are here to highlight key development sites, such as York Central, to potential investors and partners, and a huge strength for us is York’s connectivity to so many people, industries and opportunities.”

MIPIM also saw the unveiling of a £500 million economic investment fund for Leeds City Region development opportunities, backed by councils including York, with Government match-funding.