Industry chiefs planning powerful new voice for Yorkshire business

INDUSTRY leaders have progressed plans for a powerful new organisation to use the Yorkshire brand to lobby for national and international investment.

Representatives from business organisations, chambers of commerce and universities met at Rudding Park on Saturday to consider priorities for the new organisation.

A temporary business forum has been established to advance the project. The forum is being chaired by Barry Dodd, the chief executive of Wetherby-based GSM Group, a 50m turnover manufacturing firm.

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He is also a board member of Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency facing abolition by the coalition Government.

Mr Dodd said: "This is not Yorkshire Forward mark two. The business community would not support it if they thought it was. This is something completely different. The new organisation will concentrate on growing business."

The forum will meet again later this week to consider draft proposals before going out to business consultation. The objective of the organisation will be to attract as much money from Europe as possible, said Mr Dodd.

He also said the "pan-Yorkshire business voice" would work alongside rather than compete against the forthcoming local enterprise partnerships (LEPs).

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The coalition Government has invited councils and business leaders to set up LEPs as a replacement for the regional development agencies, which it blames for failing to narrow the North-South divide.

Julian Smith, Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon, attended the meeting and said he would begin discussing the plans with his political colleagues in Westminster this week.

"If our local businesses and businesses in Yorkshire can demonstrate that they want a pan-Yorkshire voice, that in this world where the Government is very keen to devolve power, I would hope there will be a positive response from all levels of government, local and national," added Mr Smith.

The Yorkshire Post is campaigning for a Yorkshire-wide body that champions the cause of Yorkshire and fights for new investment. Business Secretary Vince Cable said last Thursday "if there is a will in a region to operate on a regional basis, a regional structure can emerge".