We all know York has an impressive past – but it is also one of the cities of the future, according to those august economic soothsayers at the Financial Times.
They placed our city ninth in the Top 10 Small European Cities, according to its European Cities and Regions of the Future 2014/15 review. It was the fourth of five UK cities on the list.
This was published by FDI Intelligence Magazine, an FT publication dedicated to foreign direct investment, which it calls “the major economic driver of globalisation”.
The judging panel also placed York eighth in the Small European Cities FDI Strategy category.
Top 10 Small European Cities
| Rank | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eindhoven | Netherlands |
| 2 | Cambridge | UK |
| 3 | Reading | UK |
| 4 | Grenoble | France |
| 5 | Utrecht | Netherlands |
| 6 | Ghent | Belgium |
| 7 | Derby | UK |
| 8 | Cork | Ireland |
| 9 | York | UK |
| 10 | Derry / Londonderry | UK |
Source: fdiintelligence.com
City of York Council chief executive Kersten England accepted an award from the report’s authors.
“With this award we have achieved our goal of becoming a top ten European city by 2015, a year ahead of schedule and we will continue to build on this in the year to come,” she said.
Council leader James Alexander said the recognition was encouraging.
“However the city is looking to constantly progress, especially with the economy and we will continue to work with partners to make the city’s economic infrastructure even better and secure further investment,” he added.
“York’s economic reputation will only further with the positive news concerning John Lewis and Hiscox who will be moving to the city in the coming months.”
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Whilst this is an achievement, I am shocked that Kersten England is now saying that York has achieved its goal of being in the top ten. I will be asking for her to present the metrics initially put in the economic strategy for York and to compare then with the exact same metrics today.
I don’t want to rain on this parade, but I don’t recall Kersten England saying in the economic strategy that we will have achieved our goals when the FT says we are a good FDI area ( what FDI have we attracted and what efforts are being made I have heard others ask).
I am happy that the economic strategy 2011-2015 was finally presented 2 years late, ( as an appendix only) to the cabinet in December 2013- quite strange as this is the core of York labours jobs&growth agenda.
I hope to find out what metrics the FT itself used also, it will be useful to use as I am sure the Economic strategy, now achieved will need to be reviewed! I imagine our skills were a big asset- but I am not sure of our sites and premises, those that the Economic development staff say we are so lacking. The fact that there has been no take up from partner investors to open up the York Central site also make me question where we are in reality.
I love this city, but prefer that we enjoy any awards that come our way, but not conflate them with the baseline metrics that were in the strategy. I believe Huggins stats and centre for cities are two core stats, both updated recently- haven’t seen much for the Council on those ….