Yorkshire Forward

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title: "Yorkshire Forward" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["regional-development-agencies", "department-for-business,-innovation-and-skills", "yorkshire-and-the-humber", "organisations-based-in-leeds", "government-agencies-established-in-1999", "1999-establishments-in-england"] description: "Former development agency for Yorkshire and the Humber, England" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_Forward" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Former development agency for Yorkshire and the Humber, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox organization"]

Field	Value
name	Yorkshire Forward
logo	Yorkshire Forward.svg
logo_size	140px
image	Yorkshire Forward offices, Victoria Road, Leeds (April 2010) 003.jpg
formation	1999
defunct	2012
status	Regional development agency
headquarters	Victoria House, 2 Victoria Place, Leeds, LS11 5AE
region_served	Yorkshire and the Humber
budget	£277m (2009/10)
website	yorkshire-forward.com
remarks	Appointment: Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
::

| name = Yorkshire Forward | logo = Yorkshire Forward.svg | logo_size = 140px | image = Yorkshire Forward offices, Victoria Road, Leeds (April 2010) 003.jpg | formation = 1999 | defunct = 2012 | status = Regional development agency | headquarters = Victoria House, 2 Victoria Place, Leeds, LS11 5AE | region_served = Yorkshire and the Humber | leader_title = | leader_name = | budget = £277m (2009/10) | website = yorkshire-forward.com | remarks = Appointment: Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Yorkshire Forward was the regional development agency (RDA) for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of the United Kingdom.{{cite web | title = Home - Yorkshire Forward | publisher = Yorkshire Forward | url = http://www.yorkshire-forward.com | access-date = 18 May 2010}} It supported the development of business in the region by encouraging public and private investment in education, skills, environment and infrastructure. It was abolished on 31 March 2012 following the public spending review announced in 2010.

Regional Economic Strategy

::quote Yorkshire Forward was created in April 1999 as a non-departmental public body to drive and co-ordinate economic development and regeneration and to improve their [region's] relative competitiveness and reduce imbalances within and between regions. ::

Each of England's nine RDAs worked with partners in its region to create a Regional Economic Strategy (RES).{{cite web | title = What We Do | publisher = England's Regional Development Agencies | year = 2010 | url = http://www.englandsrdas.com/what-we-do | access-date = 18 May 2010}} Yorkshire and the Humber used the business cluster strategy of economic development, actively investing in key business sectors in an attempt to accelerate economic growth and encourage higher value added business. Yorkshire Forward identified 5 priority sectors that had the potential to deliver significant economic growth. The sectors were; Advanced Engineering and Materials, Digital and New Media, Environmental Technologies, Food and Drink, and Healthcare Technologies.

As part of the RES, Yorkshire Forward undertook an extensive programme of regeneration. This included prominent physical development activity, with high-profile processes in most of the region's major towns and cities. One such project was the Advanced Manufacturing Park on the Rotherham / Sheffield border.

Yorkshire Forward's responsibilities also included a Coalfields Programme, which saw the redevelopment and transformation of former coalfield sites into new residential, commercial or public open space developments.

In 2010 Yorkshire Forward provided £10 million to part-finance the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre led by the University of Sheffield with Rolls-Royce, anticipating involvement in any forthcoming new nuclear builds in the UK.

History

The GDP of Yorkshire represents 8% of total UK output. However, growth has not been sufficient to begin closing the productivity gap between Yorkshire and the Humber and either the London or South East regions. Businesses in Yorkshire benefit from average salaries below the national average,{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/money/2005/feb/16/business.pay | title = Londoners 'wealthiest in UK' | newspaper = The Guardian | date = 16 February 2005 | access-date = 18 May 2010 operating costs up to 20% lower than the UK average, and a competitive property market. In the Liberal Democrat-Conservative's Emergency Budget of 22 June 2010, it was announced that regional development agencies such as Yorkshire Forward were set to be abolished as part of the programme of radical spending cuts to reduce the UK's national deficit. Following a government review, some of Yorkshire Forward's responsibilities passed to a series of new 'Local Enterprise Partnerships' across the area.

References

References

1. (4 March 2010). "The Work of Yorkshire Forward".
2. (22 June 2010). "Yorkshire Forward development agency axed in Budget". BBC.
3. (16 March 2010). "Role of Yorkshire Forward". Parliament.uk.
4. (7 July 2002). "Put second cities first".
5. (17 February 2011). "Annex 2: RDA and Devolved Administration Science and Innovation Priorities supporting National Priorities as at February 2010". Parliament.uk.
6. "Yorkshire Forward and Economic Development - Urban Renaissance and Physical Development". CDI Alliance.
7. "The Rejuvenated Hearts of Yorkshire Communites [sic]". Barton Willmore.
8. (3 December 2009). "Lord Mandelson announces £25 Million Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre". Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.
9. Kiran Stacey. (16 February 2016). "UK nuclear expertise wasted by delays and developer choices". Financial Times.
10. (23 June 2010). "Yorkshire Forward Welcomes Budget Priorities of Regional Investment and Support for the Nation's SMEs". Yorkshire Forward.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::