COMPARED with many other cities, York might be thought of as relatively well integrated.

Even though it may not always feel like it, major public and private sector organisations do talk to each other and there is a generally positive attitude to partnerships.

But there is always more that can be done and that was the stimulus behind an important event organised last week by the York Professional Initiative (YPI).

For the second year running, YPI assembled a number of speakers from key organisations to provide an overview of plans for the year ahead. It made for an interesting and informative evening.

John Yeomans, founder and chairman of the YPI, introduced the evening as the annual What Are We Up To? event.

In the following presentations some thought-provoking common themes emerged. One was a renewed concentration on the life, vitality and success of the city centre; another, looking outwards rather than inwards, was recognition of the increasingly central role that York plays in the broader sub-region as well as in Yorkshire as a whole.

Carolyn Dunn, chief executive of the recently formed York City Centre Partnership Ltd, said the vast majority of the UK population lives and works in cities which therefore need to be desirable places in which to be.

Part of her role, in this partnership between key public and private stakeholders, will be to help enhance economic viability and sustainability.

Current initiatives will be co-ordinated; communications channels will be set up; and there will be consultations and research on the possibility of creating a Business Improvement District (BID) as done elsewhere in the UK.

Concern is often expressed at the adverse influence of growth and economic development on the quality of York's traditional heritage and environment.

But Maureen Loffill, on behalf of the York Civic Trust (YCT), emphasised that the trust was not against change, supporting more initiatives than it opposed.

Formation of the University of York, closure of Deangate, and the refurbishment of key York buildings, as well as many other beneficial developments, had all been achieved through the support of YCT.

Janet Ford's review of plans for the university's expansion at Heslington East, Bryn Jones's reference to recent progress on the York Central proposals, and Andrew Griffiths' summary of Science City York's achievements and aspirations all testified to the current vitality of the city and the exciting potential over the next few years.

Greater York appears to be in good shape and it is from this sound base that it can contribute to wealth generation and economic development across the region more widely.

Denise Dodd and Adam Purser explained how York-England.com will work across a greater swathe of North Yorkshire to attract inward investment, much of it on the back of our knowledge-based business and working more closely with colleges and universities.

This point was also picked up by John Guy who emphasised the great value that is provided by Business Links into emergent and innovative businesses. Chris Wilson reminded us that many of these support capabilities will be demonstrated at the Venturefest Yorkshire event in a couple of weeks' time.

The evening was such a success that the ensuing panel session elicited this audience question: "Because many of the speakers all referred to the same issues, isn't there too much duplication of effort?"

I would rather say that it indicated good collaboration between the institutions and organisations.

It does also show there can never be too much partnership working, and YPI's initiative is a valuable example of this. Perhaps next year the event can be even bigger and better, with more time devoted to these important coordination issues.

Updated: 09:47 Wednesday, January 25, 2006