'˜Yorkshire needs more start-ups and higher growth businesses' - banking boss Gregory says

Yorkshire and the north needs more start-ups and an increase in higher growth businesses if it is to grow its economic might, the chairman of Yorkshire Bank told the Northern Powerhouse Conference.
Richard Gregory, Chairman, Yorkshire Bank.Richard Gregory, Chairman, Yorkshire Bank.
Richard Gregory, Chairman, Yorkshire Bank.

Richard Gregory told delegates at the Manchester-hosted conference that the north was still lagging behind the south when it came to the number of businesses per head.

The banking boss also said that the success of the Northern Powerhouse will be judged on how well it is able to replicate the progress seen in centres of large cities like Leeds and Manchester across more densely urban and rural areas and called upon the region to “mobilise the large army of SMEs in the area”.

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Mr Gregory was speaking as part of a panel of business leaders debating how the Northern Powerhouse should be funded. A poll carried out by the event’s organisers showed that 73 per cent of people attending the conference at Manchester Central felt the initiative should be funded by central Government with just eight per cent favouring a locally funded tax.

Mr Gregory, who is set to change his role with the bank to that of honorary chairman and senior advisor in the coming weeks, said: “We still need more start-ups.

“We still have fewer businesses per head than compared with the south.

“We need more higher growth businesses and not just necessarily ones which are IP (intellectual property) dependent.

“We also have fewer patents per head here than elsewhere.

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“To be judged a success across what we are talking about in terms of a Northern Powerhouse, we need to deliver this not just across our relatively successful metropolitan centres, our cities, but also at the same time across the more challenged urban districts, and rural areas as well.

“Central to this for me is mobilising the potential of the army of SMEs that we have in the North.”

Mr Gregory was joined by a panel comprising; Keith Morgan, chief executive of British Business Bank, Paul Marsh from the Department for International Trade.

Nick Williams, managing director of consumer digital and regional ambassador with Lloyds, Stephen Miller from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Dan Sheahan, North of England MD for Investec, and Harry Catherall, chief executive of Blackburn and Darwen Council.

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Mr Sheahan recommended digitising the north ahead of the south in order to improve connectivity ahead of transport improvements.

“Wouldn’t it be great to make the north a superfast broadband hub?” he said.

“They did it in Estonia recently and that led to a great deal of inward investment as a result.

“I live between Huddersfield and Halifax, not exactly the middle of nowhere, but I can only get three meg.

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“I know people who want to work from home but need to drive to Leeds because they cannot, which in turn causes congestion on the roads.

“I think we have a massive opportunity here and one that is a lot less expensive.”

This view was supported by Mr Williams who said: “We have talked a lot about the infrastructure we have in the north, whether it takes one hour or 30 minutes to get from Manchester to Leeds.

“I actually want to speak to someone now, and therefore an investment in our digital infrastructure is incredibly important.”