Our market towns should now be the place to live and work – The Yorkshire Post says

The same is true of cities across Yorkshire and the rest of the North – they, too, are counting the cost of the lockdown as people continue to work from home in unforeseen numbers.

No wonder the Prime Minister’s ‘back to work’ mantra fell on deaf ears as fears grow about the extent – and impact – of a second wave of Covid-19 cases without adequate testing or a vaccine in place. Yet, while this is a major challenge for city centre planners, it is also an opportunity for Yorkshire’s market towns if home working remains the ‘new normal’ in these most abnormal of times.

Places which, in some cases, lost their soul when they became little more than commuter suburbs, they now have a chance to attract a new generation of families looking for a new work-life balance as a consequence of Covid-19.

Opportunities that also extend to many villages, the key will be the availability of affordable housing, provision of key services like the NHS, schools and childcare, thriving high streets including offices to hire for ad hoc meetings and, of course, reliable high-speed broadband.

In many respects, broadband is as important as the Prime Minister’s ‘build, build, build’ mantra and growing calls for greater political attention to be given to skills, training and apprenticeships – another key element of this newspaper’s week-long ‘Blueprint for Yorkshire’ special series.

Given this, Yorkshire’s towns and villages, surrounded by unrivalled countryside, are perfect locations to benefit from changes to the country’s way of life.

They should not be afraid to take advantage of their new-found status as the place to live and work before other areas do so.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor.