YORK is following up 30 leads from potential investors who could pump millions of pounds into the city.

City officials and leading councillors say they have had a strong response from their recent visit to the MIPIM international property conference in France.

City of York Council leader James Alexander said the authority was working with the York Economic Partnership to decide how best to follow up the leads, including American investors who want to invest in the UK, but are fearful London is “overheating”.

“In the north, the greatest inward investment opportunities based on economic growth are York, Manchester and Leeds. I look forward to meeting these potential investors in York.

“There is significant interest in many of our land sites that have been stalled for some significant time,” he said.

Katie Stewart, head of economic development, said it had targeted investors, developers and other partners that may help bring forward development on key sites.

The council went to MIPIM hoping to attract interest in stalled major sites, such as York Central. The trip cost £25,000.

Mrs Stewart said that by the second day of the conference, the city’s team was being contacted by interested parties.

She said: “The event exceeded our and the Leeds City Region delegation’s original expectations in establishing direct contact with potential investors, developers and partners, with more than 30 generated leads for City of York Council alone.

“We will also be taking lessons learned to make further improvements to the city’s inward investment strategy on the back of detailed and confidential discussions with investors and fund managers.”

The council has been invited to the United States to discuss the potential for investment in York, which it is expected will be at no cost to the city, and the city will continue to use the MIPIM database of contacts to identify further potential leads, she said.

“Key to the success of the event will be in the follow up and sustained contact with potential partners, which is what we’re concentrating on now,” she said.

Coun Alexander has outlined the positive response in a written report to this week’s full council meeting. In the same report, he also said York was expecting to outperform cities outside London.

The council said research had forecast productivity growth of 63 per cent by 2030 – £2,482 million – compared with the UK rate of up to 59 per cent, as well as employment growth of 13 per cent, compared with the national average of 8.7 per cent, with an expected 14,471 more jobs.

Coun Alexander said York had traditionally had an insular economy that protected the city against economic shocks. “But this means the city does not grow as fast as the rest of the country when there is a period of economic expansion.

The fact York is predicted economic growth higher than the national average indicates our economy has fundamentally changed and that the city has a confidence it has not had for some time,” he said.