CITY leaders are calling on the business community to take an active role in driving York's economic recovery.

As part of plans to boost the city's revival, 12 'recovery groups' are being set up with representatives of different sectors to gather intelligence about the challenges they face.

City of York Council is working on ways to boost the city’s economy, while also making York a greener and more inclusive city.

Sectors such as hospitality, tourism, retail and the creative arts have been hard hit by the Covid-19 crisis, along with retail, especially small businesses.

The groups will focus on different sectors such as education; manufacturing; financial and professional services, rail and transport; tourism and leisure; IT, digital and creative industries; retail; bio-economy and life science; food and drink/hospitality and property.

Council leader Councillor Keith Aspden will chair a strategic business leaders meeting to begin talks on plans. Another meeting with city partners, including the two universities, will consider how best to work in partnership.

Feedback from the 12 groups will inform recovery planning at a local and regional level, and will be used when lobbying government for further investment in the city.

Businesses of all sizes are invited to take part in the monthly virtual ‘roundtable’ discussions. They are being organised by the council with Make it York, the York BID, Federation of Small Businesess, York & North Yorkshire Chamber Of Commerce and the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

Cllr Aspden said: “As we move beyond our initial response to the pandemic, our focus turns to the city’s recovery.

"The council is working with a variety of partners to develop plans to build a better economy, seizing on opportunities to drive inclusive and clean growth here in York.

"From the start of this pandemic, we have worked with our business community and responded to their concerns.

"We’ve moved swiftly to deliver over £100m in support, developed our own £1m grant scheme to help those falling through the gaps, promoted those able to trade, and successfully lobbied government to support our 12,000 self-employed.

“We are fortunate that the most independent and creative business owners in the country have chosen York as their home, and we are keen to make sure the talents and expertise of our business community can feed into the city’s recovery planning.”

Sean Bullick, of Make It York, said: “An integral part of putting together an effective recovery plan for the city is how we work with the businesses themselves to gain insight on their priorities and concerns in the short term, as well as input into the more long-term plans as to how we can help kickstart recovery across sectors and create opportunities for business growth."

Andrew Lowson, of York BID said:"I’ve been encouraged by the partner response to Covid, firstly through the administering of grants and more recently through constructive talks on how we help businesses going forward.

"The sector groups will provide key evidence in shaping the long term recovery. In the short term, the BID will work with partners to interpret government guidance and get the city ready for trading, when it is safe to do so."

Businesses interested in the roundtable events should contact Make It York on business@makeityork.com.

The feedback from the partner and business groups will be used to create our local and regional recovery plans.

The Council Executive will welcome further input from businesses and residents, when it receives an update on the Council’s recovery plan at the virtual Executive meeting in June.