The nature of business (From York Press)

Geoff Robbs reasoning - Vibrant outer but dying small business city centre.

Also without the university, science park, council employment, NHS, education, civil service and all the other public sector employment and financed intiatives - where would York be eh?

York proves that properly targetted public sector investment creates jobs and wealth.

If the Tories really believed in their privatisation policy they would scrap all public sector investment as the private sector would take up the slcak.

They know this to be fundamentally a lie. What the Tories want is to shift public sector cash into the hands of their greedy big business pals.

There was also a recent report by GVA Grimley which suggests the very nature of city centres is evolving. It's currently shifting from retail to leisure. Their conclusion was that there are some changes which cannot be successfully combated and even the most proactive councils may be unsuccesful in challenging this. Its far better to roll with these changes than to come up against them

Clearly the buoyancy of other sectors in York are propping up the local economy, and are disguising the dire situation that has existed for several years in housebuilding and construction. Many hundreds of jobs in this sector have been lost, which could have easily have been avoided, if the council had listened to those that knew better.
In April 2005, the Council doubled their affordable housing policy target (from 25% to 50%) and this lead to housing completions in the city going into decline. The council have tried to hide behind the recession, but, a report soon to be made public has shown that housing completions of all the other councils in the Yorks & Humber region went into decline after York and most of them three years later. The largest, Leeds, peaked four years after York in 2008/09, and in contrast to York they retained their 25% affordable target.
Obviously York's stronger employment figures have done the council a favour, as without these their failings with housing policy would have been much more apparent.

If you believe that, you will believe anything, Robb shut your gob.

Brickyard wrote:
If you believe that, you will believe anything, Robb shut your gob.

insightful.