Leeds is Yorkshire’s Strongest Performing City

The annual Cities Outlook report by think-tank Centre for Cities, a comprehensive economic index of the 64 largest towns and cities in the UK, shows that Leeds and York are, economically, the strongest performing cities in Yorkshire. Leeds just pipped its nearest Yorkshire rival, having seen an increase in business stock of 17%, compared to 16% for York.

Many of Yorkshire’s cities and towns have lagged behind the growth of other UK cities over the last ten years, but both Leeds and York were said by the report to have “demonstrated resilience.” Leeds in particular was noted for its strong private to public sector ratio, placing 11^th overall.

The success of Leeds in the last decade has been very much against the grain compared to most northern cities. The report shows that, for ever 12 jobs created in cities in the South of England, only one was created in cities throughout the rest of the UK.

Councillor Keith Wakefield, Leader of Leeds City Council, said: “It is a fantastic achievement for Leeds to have had the highest percentage increase of new private sector jobs of any of the core cities, even outperforming London in 2012/13.”

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