City Team York searches for new chair

CITY Team York (CTY), the partnership which aims to help bring greater economic success to the centre of York, is seeking a new chair from the private sector.

The group, established in response to the national effort to improve the fortunes of the high street, was launched in August last year and is made up of retailers, the city council and a range of professional and businesses organisations from across the city centre with a remit to improve business growth, resilience and economic vitality.

CTY began under the chairmanship of coun James Alexander, leader of City of York Council. Coun Alexander announced in July that he was planning to hand over chair responsibilities for the CTY to a new private sector chair to continue to progress the CTY’s work.

He said: “The council brought together business, public and third sector representatives to develop a true partnership approach to achieving economic prosperity in the city’s centre, so it can successfully adapt to both new and emerging market challenges and opportunities. 

“We have facilitated the CTY so far by providing the support necessary to bring together all those who wanted to be involved and kick-starting discussions held on key city centre issues and ideas.

We have listened and debated with members during these discussions and as part of our commitment to this partnership approach we feel that it is time for us to hand over leadership of the CTY to business leaders, in the same way as the York Economic Partnership operates, to chair the CTY as it drives the initiative forward and to bring new impetus to the team. 

“I’m looking forward to being part of the CTY with a new chair at the helm and continuing to support the CTY in its work. I am confident that this will remain focused on the future of York city centre as a whole and will put in place real action plans associated with this.”