THE NEW leader of City of York Council told business leaders at the York Business Forum that his two priorities were jobs and economic growth.

“Everything else at this time is a luxury,” he said.

Coun James Alexander said the Labour-led council was appointing another cabinet member to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour so that he could focus on jobs and economic growth.

Coun Alexander said: “All my time, full time, will be spent on the local economy. I'm fully aware I’m no business expert and I won’t pretend to be. I want to hear from the business community about what's important and what’s happening.”

He stated there was “no money or political will” to dual York’s outer ring road and said the council would increase housing with 800 new homes, and would relax the 25 per cent affordable housing requirement if it made a scheme unviable.