Business leaders in Leeds are supportive of devolved powers from Westminster but have no great enthusiasm for a Boris Johnson-style leader. Instead, a reputation for regional schemes that are productive, coherent and well-led, would attract investment.The consensus came from a panel of business and property experts at EG’s Leeds Question Time last night, at Park Plaza Leeds.Simon Sherwood, partner at Mills & Reeve, said strong leadership was important, but a celebrity-style figurehead such as the London mayor, was not.Sherwood was joined by Bill Hughes, head of real assets at Legal & General, Savills development director Matthew Jones, Johnny Caddick, director of Caddick Developments and KPMG infrastructure director Jonathan Turton.When asked whether in the event of full fiscal devolution those in power should be elected, the panel responded unfavourably to the idea of yet more elections during the polling season and a hands-up audience vote on whether an elected mayor would help the region was inconclusive.Jones, said there was no need to get ‘het up’ about devolution in the Manchester region, or ‘keeping up with the Manchester Joneses,’ as one questioner among a 100-strong audience put it; Leeds could stand on its own two feet.Turton described devolution as a “buzz word” but said its details remained vague and there was a need to look first at objectives and problems. He too dismissed trans-Pennine rivalry and said the North, if its cities worked together, could be more than the sum of its parts. There were, he pointed out, more people in the Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds city regions than in Scotland.Hughes, who is also president of the British Property Federation, called for talented leaders in the Leeds city region who would have to act consensually given the area’s diversity. A ‘one size fits all’ approach wouldn’t work, he added. Though he admitted Leeds holds great appeal to investors.“We own 16 assets here, with investment of over £200m, so it’s doing something right,” he said.Caddick said Leeds had a fantastic story to tell, but it needed to promote it better.
Comentarios