East Midlands Mayor says our 'best connected' region can be a front door for global tourism

BIG AMBITIONS FOR REGENERATION AND GROWTH

- By EDDIE BISKNELL Local democracy reporter

IT’S been nearly 18 months since East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward took her post at the head of the newly-formed East Midlands Combined County Authority.

She and her team built the organisation from scratch - there was but a brick in place when she was elected in May 2024.

Now, she lives in Ollerton and spends much of her time travelling around the region - from her office in Chesterfield, to meetings in Nottingham and Derby and to sites of regeneration further afield.

Ms Ward was born in North Shields, on Tyneside, and grew up in Hertfordshire. But she says the East Midlands is the best region she’s ever lived in or worked in.

“It's the best connected,” she told the Post. “That’s part of the reason I moved here. You've got trains to London and the north, both on the ‘west coast and the east coast. You've got the Al and the MI both heading north. You've got cross-sector links, ease to get to other big cities, and more than ninety per cent of the UK is within four hours of travel.

“And we've got an airport. I think that all makes it a really connected region”