Yorkshire and Humberside in the UK

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Sheffield University

The Yorkshire and Humber region is located in the North of England covering 15,413 sq km, constituting 6.3% of the landmass of England. It stretches from Northallerton in the north to Sheffield in the south and from Settle in the west to Grimsby in the east and includes the four sub-regions of Humber, North, West and South Yorkshire. The region has a population of around 5 million people, many of whom live in the major cities: Bradford; Leeds; York; Sheffield; and, Hull. There is a working age population of 3 million with 2.3 million economically active adults earning an average gross weekly wage of £425.51 (compared with £475.08 for the UK average). There are approximately 167,000 businesses and the regional Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2004 was £71.3 billion or £14,222 per head compared with the UK average of £16,339.

The region has a developed infrastructure including: the largest port complex in the UK, which includes the Humber ports of Goole, Grimsby, Immingham and Hull, handling over 78 million tonnes of freight; three international airports (Leeds Bradford; Humberside; Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield); key road links between the North and South (A1; M1) and the West and East (M62); and, fast rail links.

The industrial history of the region has a mining and farming legacy which can be traced back to before 500BC (iron-ore being mined by the Celts from 500BC and lead by the Romans after 71AD). Shortly before the industrial revolution in the 16th Century Yorkshire and Humber boomed, partly as consequence of the wool industry which was concentrated in West Yorkshire. Leeds flourished, Wakefield and Halifax became dominated by the cloth industry and Sheffield was already becoming known for its cutlery. A further major growth period occurred in the 18th Century led by the wool industry, Leeds and other wool towns grew rapidly as did Sheffield, Huddersfield and Hull. It was during this period that the coal mining industry also became a major contributor to regional prosperity and the transport infrastructure were improved via canals and turnpike roads.

Gateshead Millenium Bridge

Early tourism also grew in the spa towns of Harrogate and Scarborough where people drank mineral water and bathed. In the 19th Century during the industrial revolution the textile, steel and coal industries all grew rapidly making the region a major contributor to the UK's prosperity, although the quality of life deteriorated.

The industrial base being focused on heavy industry and textiles led to mass unemployment during the 1920s and 1930s, as these industries began to decline. Up until the present day the decline of traditional industries has continued and a restructuring of the economy has been ongoing. During the period 1994 to 1999 parts of Yorkshire were classed as an underdeveloped region of the European Union receiving Objective 2 status and considerable effort has been expended on reversing the effects of industrial decline. Some areas have begun to recover; Leeds in particular has grown to become the northern hub for the UK's financial and legal industries. At present South Yorkshire, however, continues to decline (and now receives EU Objective 1 status), having a Gross Domestic Product which is less than 75% of the European average.

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