Cloth Hall Court welcomes 150 business and political figures for Crossrail North Summit

Business and political leaders joined together on Wednesday (23rd August) for a Transport Summit at Leeds Beckett University’s Cloth Hall Court, managed by Well Met Conferencing.

The meeting was called following the announcement from Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, to scrap the proposed plan for investment in Crossrail North.

The summit saw over 150 delegates in attendance, who were all from a wide range of northern cities and towns in the Northwest, the Northeast, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, and Lancashire.

Cloth Hall Court also welcomed private sector partners from an array of business groups, including Downtown in Business, the Northern Business Improvement Districts, Chambers of Commerce, the FSB, and the IoD.

The summit included panel sessions on The Current Situation Of Transport Infrastructure For The North and comparative business and political views.

Among the speakers were councillor Judith Blake, leader Leeds City Council; Steve Rotheram MP, mayor Liverpool City Region; councillor Julie Dore, leader Sheffield City Council and councillor Nick Forbes, leader Newcastle City Council.

Clare Vidler, conference manager at Well Met, commented: “We are honoured to be the host venue for the Crossrail North Summit.

“Working alongside Downtown in Business to bring this critical summit to Cloth Hall Court, we saw this as a fantastic opportunity to not only promote our facility but also highlight Leeds’ importance as part of the Northern Powerhouse and the necessity for improved transport links across the north.”

IPPR, the think tank for the north of England, has also launched a petition on Cross Rail North to encourage the transport secretary to pledge his immediate backing for the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme.

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