Mayor’s confidence over attracting funding for largely rural region

The country’s first elected mayor of a largely rural region has spoken of his confidence about overturning decades of Government funding being focused on southern and urban areas as he marked his 100th day in office.

York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith said since sweeping to victory in May with a 14,794 majority the scale of the challenge in developing housing and transport across England’s largest county had come into sharp relief.

He said while he had realised reversing years of underinvestment in market towns and villages and the North-South divide was going to be a big task, it had become apparent the “unique” blend of North Yorkshire’s rural and coastal areas would also bring opportunities.

The Labour mayor said: “So much economic growth has always been geared towards urban city centres and transport systems have always been heavily geared towards those kind of areas.

“When you go into the rural parts of North Yorkshire we have a lot of towns and villages that don’t have much in between. How we grow a combined authority and bring economic opportunities to people, build housing and improve transport connectivity in such a rural area and connect up the coastal region will be the big challenge.”

When asked if he believed the Labour Government would be open to persuasion over giving rural areas a greater share of funding, without hesistation he replied “undoubtedly”, and cited Chancellor Rachel Reeves having visited the region to find out about Mr Skaith’s plans.

He said: “Having a mayor for York and North Yorkshire at the Government’s top table, I have the ability to showcase the importance of the region and rural communities and the fact that we haven’t had anyone around that top table before speaking with Keir, Rachel and Angela.”

Mr Skaith said he had expressed concerns over how rural communities could be supported and had been asked by Government to put together a growth plan for the coming decade to highlight the region’s capabilities.

He said he believed many people outside the region did not fully appreciate the capabilities of York and North Yorkshire.

Mr Skaith said: “You probably think York and North Yorkshire is the pretty place, it’s the Dales, it’s the coast, it does very well with hospitality and tourism, but actually we’ve got so much here to showcase. Now that we have me and a team behind me shouting about this puts us on the map.”

Pressed over whether he supported the Government’s extensive use of cost-benefit ratios involving population numbers to make funding decisions, such as over the long-awaited upgrade of the A64, he called for a “larger joined-up approach” looking at investments in a more holistic manner.

Mr Skaith said funding from the abandoned HS2 rail scheme would help “develop the transport system that we require” alongside more collaborative work with other regions, such as the mayors of South and West Yorkshire.

Next week will see him meeting Transport Secretary Louise Haigh to tell her “how we need to see huge investment into the region” and Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman to highlight discuss about developing active travel “not just where it’s easy and convenient” in urban areas such as York.

He said: “The Government brought the mayors down to No 10 within four days because they see mayors as the arms to deliver in the regions.
“We know what our region needs. I am very confident with the expertise that we are bringing in and have in our team that we can develop a transport system and the funding to go with that to move people around for opportunities in our region.”