IMAGINE it's 2023. Hull's unemployment rate is well below the national average and the lowest in Yorkshire after the creation of 7,500 new jobs over the past decade.
Offshore wind turbines are rolling off the production line at the Siemens plant at Alexandra Dock.
More than 3,000 people are directly employed in the chain of companies responsible for the delivery of turbines to their new home in the North Sea.
Meanwhile, renewable energy of a very different kind is being generated just up the road in Cleveland Street.
It's where most of the region's household waste is being turned into cheap, green electricity and gas at a £160m energy facility.
Next door, a huge new data storage centre is being powered from the same converted waste.
It's one of many similar centres springing up around the Humber as part of a push to corner the UK market in a growing hi-tech industry thanks to the area's cooler seaside climate.
The region's unrivalled green energy credentials have also helped persuade data companies to invest here thanks to schemes such as Hull's citywide district heating initiative, its unique LED street lights and its own superfast broadband network.
At the same time, a new tech-savvy generation from Hull have emerged to help turn the hype about being the UK's leading digital city into reality.
But it's not just new industries that have turned Hull's fortunes around.
The city now attracts three times as many visitors than it did a decade ago.
Heritage is now big business, bringing new jobs along with investment.
Building on Hull's successful year as the UK City of Culture in 2017, thousands of new jobs have been created in the tourism sector with the arrival of HMS Illustrious as a spectacular new visitor attraction on the city's waterfront and the opening of a new international art gallery in the thriving old Fruit Market area.
The recent opening of a new cruise terminal at Albert Dock has also added to Hull's appeal.
And it's now much easier to reach the waterfront following the completion of the £160m Castle Street upgrade.
Sounds too good to be true?
Well, try telling that to the people behind Hull's new ten-year City Plan and the audience who gathered yesterday at the University of Hull for its official launch.
Similar far-sighted visions and ambitious forecasts have, of course, been made before.
But this renewed attempt to bring together up to 65 different projects in one united drive to almost reinvent Hull's economy appears to have the necessary momentum behind it, notably thanks to the presence of some big-hitters from the city's private sector. A recently-formed City Leadership Board (CLB) has spent the past few months thrashing out a clear focus and philosophy for the plan.
Yesterday, the city's new High Steward Lord Mandelson was on hand to introduce it and, in his own words, beat the drum for Hull.
"The city's challenge is to imagine a better future, to chart a course to achieve it and to have the resolve and the skills to take the steps that are needed," he said.
"I believe the city's leadership in business, education and politics is rising to this challenge with the City Plan.
"A better future for Hull isn't going to be easy. None of Hull's problems will be tackled with real transformational change.
"This change won't come about without stimulating investment and demand for new things that Hull has to offer, through partnerships between industry and the public sector – the sort of industrial activism I pioneered in government and the strategic alliances the current government says are needed for business to thrive."
Lord Mandelson said creating a new green economy required a workforce with the right skills and claimed Hull was already "ahead of the game".
"The postgraduate courses in environmental technology offered at the university can train people for employment in the renewable energy industry," he said.
"The university will be a key player in the Humber's transition to a green economy while Hull College already has more than 150 courses related to more than 100 different careers within the renewable energy sector.
"We must equip people to do the jobs needed in a 21st century knowledge-based economy and also through skilled apprentices," he said.
CLB chairman Tim Rix struck a similarly optimistic tone.
The managing director of the Hull-based fuel and transport group said: "The City Plan is designed to enable Hull to make best use of the opportunities for renewable energy investment and to look at all the ways to create new jobs.
"It's not just about economic driver, although all of these crucially important.
"It's also about the vision of putting Hull on the international map, using its fine historic pedigree as well as looking after the community as a whole.
"It will take much community involvement, hard work and some good luck.
"We all agree Hull is a great city. Of course people differ in their views of how we could make it more successful and make the most of its potential but no one has an excuse on this occasion to sit on the sidelines because the City Plan is all-inclusive.
"Anyone can have their say and we actively encourage them to do so."
City council leader Steve Brady, who is also on the CLB, said: "The City Plan is absolutely vital to the city's future.
"We need to fight back as a city. We are very resilient people and I believe the city and the people will rise up to the challenge of creating new industries, new opportunities and new hope for the young people in the city and a real sense of pride in Hull.
"Everybody has a part to play.
"It's absolutely vital that everybody puts their heart and soul into this plan and works hard to make sure it's a success and we will see the fruits of that."
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