GREG Dyke bought his first ever house in York. It was back in the 1970s, when he came here to study politics at the University of York as a mature student. He had been working for a few years as a journalist, he had a bit of money, and when he found a little house in a street off Haxby Road, he bought it.

It was the kind of house that generations of York workers - those who had been employed on the railways, or in one the city’s chocolate factories - might have lived in. It cost him a whopping £1,200.

He recently went back to that same street. There was a house for sale. The price? £240,000.

It’s a sign of just how much things have changed in York, he says.

Back in his day, the people living in that street were working class. “Where do they live now?”

That is something that really worries him about modern York, great city as it is, says the newly-appointed chair of Make it York.

York isn’t alone, of course. His parents grew up in Hackney, the working class East End of London. Today, house prices there can easily reach £1 million, he says. Crazy money.

But York prices are just as mad if you take into account local wages. “So it does worry me, where lower-paid people are supposed to live,” he says. “If you’re living on the minimum wage, can you even afford to live here?”

That’s why he has made attracting more well-paid jobs to York for local people one of his top priorities at Make It York, the city centre management organisation which looks after tourism, branding and inward investment.

When it comes to tourism, York’s brand is pretty well established, he says. “But we don’t just want to be a tourist town. Jobs in tourism aren’t very well paid. York does need to be a bigger centre for business.”

If that is to happen, he says, York needs more good-quality office space. It is what everyone he’s been talking to says to him.

The old days when York was an industrial city relying on the railways and chocolate are gone, he says. “So one thing we need to look at as an organisation is how to get more businesses here, because jobs are important - well paid jobs. And to do that we’re going to have to work out how to get more modern office space. Because if you’re a business the shortage of office accommodation makes it quite hard to expand here.”

He’s already had a look around the huge York Central site behind the railway station, he says - and there’s clearly real potential there.

But what if the House of Lords suddenly decide they need some of that space?

His eyes gleam. “It could be really exciting! I’d been in the job (at Make It York) two hours and somebody said ‘the House of Lords is moving to York’ and I thought ‘job done!’”

He admits he doesn’t know whether it is realistic to try to separate the two chambers of the Houses of Parliament. “But clearly they have sent someone up here to have a look!” And he thinks it would be great for York. “Who in York wouldn’t want it?”

As BBC boss, it was Dyke who arranged for part of the corporation to move to Manchester. The BBC was far too London-based before that, he says. And while he’s a Londoner himself (he’s from Richmond south of the Thames) he clearly feels that’s true of our national government, too. It wouldn’t hurt for part of the government to be based up North, he says - and not just because of the jobs and money it would bring. It is about ensuring our institutions understand and represent all parts of the country...

The 72-year-old was headhunted for the Make It York role. One reason he took it was that he was getting fed up of the ‘semi-retired’ life, he jokes. “I was bored!”

But more importantly, he’s had a soft spot for York since his student days here.

When he applied to study politics here, the University of York didn’t need to accept him, he says. “I was 24, I had been a journalist for five years, but I didn’t have the right A-levels.” Nevertheless, the university gave him a chance. “And it changed my life!”

He loved living in York, he admits. In an interview with the Press almost ten years ago, when he was the Chancellor of the University of York, he spoke fondly about earning some extra cash as a student by working as a cleaner at Rowntrees. As a student, he also became a fan of York City.

He went to most of their home matches in his final year here. It was the season City won promotion to the old Second Division. He’d left York by the time they got to play the likes of Manchester United the following season. But the one-time FA chairman has been a fan ever since. He’d love to see City get promoted this year. “And it would be great to see them back in the Football League!”

In between helping Make It York sort out the shortage of well-paid jobs in the city, therefore, he’s hoping he’ll have time to catch a few City home games at the new community stadium.

Has he been to see it yet? Not yet, he admits - but he’s looking forward to it.

And what about the lack of parking? He gets a twinkle in his eye. “You can always find places to park on a Saturday, can’t you?” he says. Just don’t tell that to people living near the stadium, Greg...

He says that despite the high cost of housing and the relatively low-wage economy, he is optimistic about York’s future.

Boris Johnson owes a lot to the people of the north for his election victory, Dyke says . “He has borrowed your votes, and he has committed himself to do something - and I think it will happen. I do think we will see great investment out of London, particularly for the north, which would be great for York.”

He is also confident Make It York can do a lot for the city.

As the new chair, he’s keen that the organisation should focus on three or four things and try to do them really well, rather than spreading itself too thin.

So what would they be?

First is trying to attract new businesses and well-paid jobs to York, he says. But York also needs to attract more big festivals to maintain its reputation as a place to visit.

So has he heard of the problems with the Great Yorkshire Fringe? Martin Witts, the Fringe organiser, levelled some thinly-veiled criticism at Make It York when he decided not to bring back the comedy festival this year, claiming that it wouldn’t be able to thrive in York until there was a ‘well managed and efficient city centre management’.

He says that he ‘doesn’t know enough about that’ to really comment. “But I do think big events are important for York,” he says

He’s quite clear in his own mind, however, that they shouldn’t be only for tourists. “They are particularly important for the people who live here.”

As to how he will operate in his new role: he’s a big believer in reaching out to people and building connections, he says, rather than hiding behind emails. When he took over as Director General of the BBC in 2000, there was a culture of staff communicating by emails. He wants none of that.

“I’d much rather pick up the phone and say ‘can you help?’”

He’s the kind of person it might be hard to say ‘no’ to...

GREG DYKE CV

BBC Director General: 2000-2004

FA chairman: 2013 to 2016

Chancellor of York University: 2004-2015