Connectivity
When it comes to the essential ingredients for competitive advantage and growth, Leeds City Region is rich in digital, energy and transport connectivity, and our infrastructure is only set to grow in capacity and resilience.
The Leeds City Region's central position in Britain coupled with its international airport, road and mainline rail links offer a well-connected platform for global businesses.
London is two hours away by train, with services running hourly. Leeds-Bradford airport flies to London Heathrow Terminal 5 five times daily, and servers other global business and leisure destinations either directly or via connecting flights.
The M62, M1 and A1(M) motorways converge in the region, connecting the east and west coasts of Northern England, London, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Leeds City Region also has excellent road and rail freight distribution networks to the rest of the country Europe.
Digital
Leeds City Region has the highest concentration of internet service and telecommunications providers in the UK and has pioneered a vision for low-cost, fast and ubiquitous digital connectivity.
York, the UK’s first gigabit city, has the fastest download times in the UK, while IXleeds is the UK’s first mutual internet exchange.
Leeds City Region’s infrastructure and innovation capabilities make it a cost-effective location to host business-critical or sensitive financial data. Our high-speed, reliable digital connectivity is crucial for reinforcing what the Leeds City Region does best: adding value through competitive edge in our core growth sectors.
Data is transforming business like never before, especially in personalised manufacturing, Fintech and healthcare. And our Digital and Information Economy is poised to unleash new opportunities across all these sectors and more with world-class expertise in big data analytics.
Energy
The Leeds City Region has a heritage of supplying critical resources to fuel industrial growth on a global scale.
In fact, a sixth of the UK's electricity supply is generated here, and we have the largest manufacturing sector in the country, thanks to a burgeoning demand for low-carbon and alternative energies.
Our region’s long-term ambition is to be an international leader in resource efficiency for businesses. Regional centres of excellence York’s BioVale have been set up to reduce overheads for businesses and drive energy-efficient value chains. Strong links between businesses and energy efficient value chains help new businesses run optimally from day one.
Future transport connectivity
We are committed to long term infrastructure investment to help ease the flow of goods and people within the City Region and improving the economy. As well as business support, skills and energy improvements, our Local Growth Deal agreed with the Government will help fund transport projects designed to improve the connectivity across our region and more broadly, to connect the principal cities across the north.
The new high-speed rail link between Leeds, Birmingham and London (HS2) will unlock much-needed capacity and bring a reduced journey time of 82 minutes from Leeds to London. HS2 is forecast to deliver 19,700 potential new jobs and a single economic corridor that will boost the Leeds City Region economy by £7.8 billion a year.
Improved transport will unlock the potential of seven million people across the Leeds City Region. And projects like HS2 are engines of economic growth in themselves - worth over £25 billion in opportunities for businesses in construction, workforce training and infrastructure support services.