Senior Humber leaders back priorities for growth
OPPORTUNITY: A mayoral Q&A panel at the Humber Leadership Exchange, hosted by Future Humber Chair, Andrew Dawes
By Rick Lyon, Co-Editor
More than 60 senior leaders from the Humber’s private and public sectors joined forces to set the agenda for growth, investment and opportunity across the region.
Pan-Humber unity, physical connectivity, investment and innovation, and future-proofing skills and place reputation are the priorities that regional leaders committed to at the Humber Leadership Exchange event.
Organised by Future Humber, the exchange brought senior representatives together to shape a collective direction to unlock the region’s potential as a national engine of growth.
Drawing on real business insights to help inform regional priorities across key areas, the session focused on developing a shared vision for – and identifying next steps to drive – the Humber’s long-term prosperity.
Andrew Dawes, Chair of Future Humber and Humber director for ABP, said: “Humber is united on our region’s potential, and that potential is ready to be realised.
“By bringing leaders together, we’re building the momentum needed to accelerate delivery and unlock the full scale of opportunity. This is about aligning our purpose with what is right for our businesses and our communities to move the conversations and our region forwards.
“The opportunity now is to turn that engagement into visible, coordinated action that delivers for our region and the wider national economy.”
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Fundamentally, the UK economy cannot succeed without the North, and the North needs the Humber.
GROWTH: From left, Andrew Dawes, Humber mayors Luke Campbell and Andrea Jenkyns and Henri Murison
“With highly productive industrial sectors concentrated in both energy and manufacturing highlighted in the State of the Humber inaugural report, both banks of the estuary together make up an economy of capabilities not easily replicated elsewhere.
“The national requirements for energy security are simply not possible without the Humber. The Humber Growth Board will be a single joined-up, compelling and cohesive voice uniting mayors, civic and business leaders. Its team will be critical to encourage inward investors to make the right decision and invest here both in the freeport and more widely in infrastructure and projects.”
Strengthening collaboration between private and public sector leadership, the event brought together mayors and senior officers from the Hull and East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire combined authorities, alongside key stakeholders from all four local authorities and the wider business community.
Luke Campbell, Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, said: “The Humber has more untapped potential than anywhere else in the country. That’s the story that we need to be telling.
“I want to make this region the best place to live and work, but we need to join together with one voice to do that.
“With combined authorities on both sides of the Humber, we’ve got a chance to change that by collaborating – not competing and duplicating.”
Held at Forest Pines, in Brigg, the private, invitation-only event was facilitated by Arup and designed for senior leaders from Future Humber’s principal and major partner business network.
For information on becoming a Future Humber principal or major partner, email leahann.barnes@futurehumber.com