Sarah Czarnecki was the guest speaker at the York Civic Trust AGM

York & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce president Sarah Czarnecki was guest speaker at the Annual General Meeting of the York Civic Trust.

MS Czarnecki follows in the footsteps of the likes of former BBC director general Greg Dyke and University of York vice chancellor Charlie Jeffrey in delivering the main guest speech.

Ms Czarnecki ran through her career history, culminating in her current roles at Grays Court Hotel and at the York St John University school of business.

She then stated the Chamber’s priority areas for the region, specifically:

• To see the region’s economy grow.
• For the successful delivery of transport schemes so crucial to unlocking the city’s and the region’s potential.
• To see investment in York’s outer ring road come to fruition and for the A64 to be dualled so that the great city of York and the unrivalled Yorkshire coastline are easier to get between.

When York is talked about it is often along what happened in its history. And with good reason.

How many British cities can claim a that an emperor of ancient Rome was proclaimed in its city centre? How many places boast a gothic cathedral that can rival any place of worship on the planet for being such an awe-inspiring piece of architecture? How many places can say that the Vikings chose it to be their British capital city.

She then ran through the reasons York can be hopeful and optimistic about its future, citing projects such as York Central, Castle Gateway, the redevelopment of Coney Street and a newly renovated railway station.

Ms Czarnecki also used her keynote to formally offer to collaborate more with the Civic Trust on matters going forward.

She said: “I see a huge amount of synergy between what we do as a Chamber and what the Civic Trust does. We are both historic institutions with proud roots in the region’s history. We both have shared areas of interest, particularly around matters such as planning and transport, as we collectively strive to make York and North Yorkshire absolutely the best place to live and to work.

“When people hear Chamber or Civic Trust they think of historic, backwards-looking institutions but the reality is the opposite. That is why I would like to make a formal offer for us to work together and collaborate on what we want best for the city.”