Concern over the city’s retail and hospitality recovery has been voiced by Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ian Kelly.
The business group leader described the past 12 months as “one of the most extraordinary years we have ever had” as he gave his annual review at the organisation's annual general meeting.
Dr Kelly, who marked a quarter of a century as CEO, said: “It has been quite challenging, not just coronavirus; Brexit made it a very interesting one as well. On our watch we’ve also had the worst economic collapse for 300 years, something we’ve all had to cope with in one way or another.
“Our national patron Her Majesty the Queen was kind enough to write to us in the summer to thank us, the Chamber, and our members for trying to keep the show on the road, and keep the economy performing as best we can in light of this global pandemic of unprecedented proportions.”
Many members are reliant on the activity in the urban core - and with City of Culture status having been ‘sent’ to Coventry, all eyes are on how it emerges.
“The city centre had been hugely impacted by the difficulties in retail and hospitality, and that has been a real problem which has fast forwarded the move to digitalisation and people purchasing goods on the internet,” Dr Kelly said.
“That will be a very big issue for regeneration going forward, as we come out of coronavirus and as we reshape our city centre in Hull and how that works.”
He welcomed the A63 Castle Street upgrade and new footbridge to link the marina and Fruit Market area to the city centre, as a “longstanding campaign now coming into shape visibly”.
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Dr Kelly, who sits on the Hull Business Improvement District board, which represents 780 businesses taking in a nucleus of 1,174 properties, said: “It has been a very difficult time for Kathryn Shillito (executive director) and her team with much of the city centre and business closing down.
"The activities they do to promote events and footfall have been curtailed quite significantly, but working in a strong alliance with the city council, the police and other partners, Kathryn and her team have kept the streets as crime-free and as pro-active in its best effect as much as she has been able to.”
He also acknowledged the political shift on the South Bank and the steps being made on the North Bank to mitigate the Greater Lincolnshire separation.
“It looks like we are now heading for elected mayor elections in 2023, with a new local enterprise partnership chair for Hull and East Riding. The Humber LEP is being wound down on April 1, and we watch that progress with interest and explore what James Newman - who I was fortunate to serve with on the Finance Yorkshire board for nine years - as our new LEP chairman, what deal he can do to get finances out of government as part of that elected mayor, combined authority devolution and linked-up process."
He welcomed the stand-out imminent arrival of Siemens Mobility's train assembly plant as “fantastic for Goole, fantastic for East Riding and assembly and manufacture of a new capability on rail,” adding: “Sadly our rail capacity across the East - West links aren’t quite as effective as what our train assembly plant is likely to be when completed, which will be a huge shot in the arm to Goole, which hopefully will help compensate or things like the Goole College closure which was a blow.”
He said the staycation trend had the potential to support the local economy with resorts “refreshing and looking at how they operate,” while the region is also a key caravan manufacturing cluster.
The British Steel acquisition by Jingye Group came just days after last year’s AGM, with the anniversary on March 9. A request by Business Live for an interview with chief executive Ron Deelen to mark the occasion has been declined.
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Of the Scunthorpe-headquartered business, Dr Kelly said it was “very pleasing to see British Steel appears to be forging ahead again under new ownership and that’s very important given its role as the prominent employer in the town”.
Former Scunthorpe MP Nic Dakin has joined the Chamber’s training arm, and in Grimsby, he said new MP Lia Nici had “quite a hotline into 10 Downing Street as one of the new Conservative seats in the Labour brick wall”.
“Grimsby Town deal and various slugs of cash for regeneration continue to be used to reinvigorate the town as it moves forward based on the best of help with the renewables activities going on - Orsted in particular - but with lots of other companies at the cutting edge of our renewables agenda” he said.
President and vice president Phil Jones and Mike Whitehead, sworn in at the KC Stadium prior to the pandemic outbreak in 2020, were re-elected after “non-years” in office, ahead of a presentation from inward-investing Ineos, as reported.