Hull is a unique City with a proud history. Individuals and organisations – especially from the public and private sectors - agree there is a strong foundation on which to build a financially successful and exciting future. Development schemes, such as Quay West and the Fruit Market, make sure that the City will continue to encourage inward investment.
Hull’s infrastructure is changing to meet the demands of a 21st-century City. Hedon Road has been completely changed to give visitors entering the “Gateway to Europe’ a better idea of what the city has to offer. Also, community and business leaders agree that improvements must be made to the A63 Castle Street for the city to reach its full potential. A £200m scheme to redevelop Ferensway, with a new public-transport interchange and the impressive St Stephen’s development, has been described as one of the most important redevelopment projects in the UK. The scheme will provide 220 new homes, a hotel, cafes, restaurants, a theatre and a music school.
But it is widely recognised that Hull needs a competitive, growing economy if it is to have a long-term future. Without investment for the years to come, and the jobs this creates, we will be limited in our ability to reduce poverty, improve health, and provide opportunity for everyone in Hull.
Having a steady, rewarding and well-paid job can have an important effect on people’s quality of life. Employment can bring people and families out of poverty, and improve health and wellbeing in other ways. One of the main aims at the Community Strategy is to provide long-term jobs and develop a growing economy – this must be a strong priority for us, particularly in the business sector.
Members from the Jobs and Prosperity Delivery Arm of ONE HULL have been selected to achieve the targets set out in the Community Strategy and create a better City. They will monitor progress and regularly report on how it is performing in meeting those challenging goals.
The aim is to make Hull one of the most ‘business friendly’ cities in the country and help improve the quality of life for local people.
Our aims are to:
- improve the quality of Hull’s business sector;
- allow Hull’s businesses to be more competitive;
- create a culture that encourages people to start their own businesses;
- encourage employers to invest in better skills for their employees; and
- advertise Hull as a good place to invest.
This means that, over the next five years, we intend to:
- increase the employment rate in Hull to the national average (this will need an extra 9,000 people in Hull to be in employment);
- double the rate of new businesses in the city setting up; and
- narrow the gap between how much people earn in Hull and how much people in the rest of the country earn.
The vision
By 2011, we will have created an environment within the city that encourages business, provides jobs and allows people to find more employment easily. We will have increased people’s access to better skilled jobs and the higher wages that these jobs will bring to the city.