Yorkshire and the Humber

Geographical context

Geology

In the Yorkshire and the Humber region, there is a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the underlying geology. The Pennine chain of hills in the west is of Carboniferous origin. The central vale is Permo-Triassic. The North York Moors in the north-east of the region are Jurassic in age, while the Yorkshire Wolds and Lincolnshire Wolds to the south east are Cretaceous chalk uplands.

Climate

This region of England generally has cool summers and relatively mild winters, with the upland areas of the North York Moors and the Pennines experiencing the coolest weather and the Vale of York the warmest. Weather conditions vary from day to day as well as from season to season. The latitude of the area means that it is influenced by predominantly westerly winds with depressions and their associated fronts, bringing with them unsettled and windy weather, particularly in winter. Between depressions, there are often small mobile anticyclones that bring periods of fair weather. In winter anticyclones bring cold dry weather. In summer the anticyclones tend to bring dry, settled conditions which can lead to drought. For its latitude, this area is mild in winter and cooler in summer due to the influence of the Gulf Stream in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Air temperature varies on a daily and seasonal basis. Cities such as Sheffield, Leeds, and Bradford are generally cooler due to their inland and upland location, while York, Hull, and Wakefield are warmer due to their lowland location. The temperature is usually lower at night; January is the coldest time of the year and July is usually the warmest month.

Snow is not uncommon in the winter, Yorkshire is mostly hilly/mountainous, and the Yorkshire Dales and the Pennines can have extreme snowstorms with high snowdrifts. Inland/upland settlements, such as Skipton or Ilkley, have more snow than coastal towns. Hull and Scarborough have less snow as their weather is moderated by the ocean.

Climate data for settlements in the region:

Local government

The official region consists of the following subdivisions:

North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and Kingston upon Hull unitary authorities used to be part of Humberside which meant the region was called Yorkshire & Humberside.

Regional assembly

The Yorkshire and Humber Assembly was a partnership of all local authorities in the region and representatives of various economic, social and environmental sectors. The full Assembly normally met three times a year, normally in February, June and October.

The full Assembly is responsible for providing regional leadership, agreeing regional strategic priorities, directing the development of the Integrated Regional Framework and endorsing key regional strategies. Membership comprises all 22 local authorities in this region, plus 15 Social, Economic and Environmental partners, and the National Parks for planning purposes.

On 31 March 2009, the Assembly was abolished and replaced by Local Government Yorkshire and Humber, until its subsequent closure in 2015.

Yorkshire is one of the two regions (along with the North West) that were expected to have a referendum about the establishment of an elected regional assembly. When the North East region of England rejected having an elected regional assembly in a referendum, the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced that he would not move orders for other referendums before the relevant provisions expired in June 2005.

The committees for the region ceased to exist after 12 April 2010; regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Cameron–Clegg coalition government, with the associated government offices abolished in 2011.

European Parliament

Before the UK exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020, the European constituency of Yorkshire and the Humber was coterminous with the English region.

Demographics

List of districts by population

The region has fewer degree-educated adults than the England average and the UK's highest rate of cancer.

Teenage pregnancy

For top-tier authorities, Kingston upon Hull has the highest teenage pregnancy rate, closely followed by North East Lincolnshire. For top-tier authorities, North Yorkshire has the lowest teenage pregnancy rate.

Rotherham had the UK's youngest grandmother, who was 26 years old as her 12-year-old daughter gave birth on 26 August 1999.

Social deprivation

For multiple deprivation in England, measured by the Indices of deprivation 2007, the most deprived council districts in the region are, in descending order – Kingston upon Hull (11th in England), Bradford (32nd), Doncaster (41st), Barnsley (43rd), North East Lincolnshire (49th), Sheffield (63rd), Wakefield (66th), Rotherham (68th), Kirklees (82nd), Leeds (85th), and Scarborough (97th). These areas are mostly represented by Labour MPs, with a few Conservative MPs representing parts of Leeds (with a Lib Dem MP) and North East Lincolnshire, and all of Scarborough. Apart from Scarborough, they are unitary authorities.

The least deprived districts are, in descending order – Harrogate, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Craven, and Selby – all in North Yorkshire. Like all of North Yorkshire, they are represented by Conservative MPs, aside from Selby which elected a Labour MP at the 2023 Selby and Ainsty by-election. At county level, the least deprived areas are, in descending order – North Yorkshire, York and the East Riding of Yorkshire which all have roughly the same level of deprivation, and lower than the majority of England, including Cheshire and Northamptonshire.

The region as a whole is one of the more deprived in England, measured by having far more Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in the 20% most deprived districts than the 20% least deprived districts.

Kingston upon Hull has the highest proportion of people not in education, employment or training NEETs in the region (and fairly high for the UK – 10.6%). This is another demographic extreme it shares with Knowsley in Merseyside.

In March 2011 the region had the third highest overall unemployment claimant count in England with 4.4%. For the region, Hull has the highest rate with 7.8% which is the highest for any English district; North East Lincolnshire is next with 6.4%, and Doncaster has 5.2%. Richmondshire has the lowest rate with 1.8% and Harrogate is next lowest with 1.9%.

Elections

In the 2015 general election, 39% of the region's electorate voted Labour, 33% Conservative, 16% UKIP, 7% Liberal Democrat and 4% Green. Labour had almost twice as many seats than the Conservatives with 33 Labour, 19 Conservative and 2 Liberal Democrat. There was a 2.5% swing from Conservative to Labour. However, although Labour has around 60% of the region's seats, the geographic spread is mostly Conservative, due to the Labour seats having a much smaller geographic area.

In the 2017 general election, Sheffield Hallam incumbent Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) was defeated by Labour candidate Jared O'Mara, with Labour taking all of South Yorkshire while remaining concentrated in the other coalfield areas and Hull. However, the 2019 general election saw Labour lose ground, mainly to the Conservatives, within the region.

ONS ITL

In the Office for National Statistics International Territorial Levels (ITL), Yorkshire and the Humber is a level-1 ITL region, coded "UKE", which is subdivided as follows:

Transport

Transport policy

As part of the national transport planning system, the Regional Assembly is required to produce a Regional Transport Strategy to provide long-term planning for transport in the region. This involves region wide transport schemes such as those carried out by the Highways Agency and Network Rail.

Within the region the local transport authorities plan for the future by producing Local Transport Plans (LTP) which outline their strategies, policies and implementation programmes. The most recent LTP is that for the period 2006–11. In the Yorkshire and The Humber region the following transport authorities have published their LTP online: East Riding of Yorkshire U.A., Kingston upon Hull, North East Lincolnshire U.A., North Lincolnshire U.A., North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and York U.A.

Road

The M62 motorway is Yorkshire's main east–west thoroughfare, and north–south routes are the M1 and the A1, with only the A1 continuing further north, with an upgrade to motorway status currently being built between Leeming and Barton. The other main north–south road in the region is the A19. The M180 (continuing as the A180) connects the ports at Grimsby and Immingham via the M18 (European route E22).

The A64 road connects areas in the north-east of the region to the main body of motorways. The M1 was originally designed to finish at the A1 at Doncaster; this section became the M18 in December 1967. The section from the Thurcroft Interchange to Leeds (originally known as the Leeds-Sheffield Spur) was essentially designed to replace the A61, which is still the main road that connects the centres of Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield and Leeds, and continues through Harrogate and Ripon to Thirsk. The M180 is shadowed by the A18, which is the main road through Scunthorpe. The single-carriageway A1079 connects Hull to York, and has been exceeding its designed capacity for many years.

The main north–south and east–west routes interchange at a series of junctions to the south and east of Leeds, near Castleford. Leeds and Bradford have inner-city urban motorways, while Sheffield has the Sheffield Parkway and Hull has the Clive Sullivan Way (A63) which connect the city centres with the motorway network. Leeds has an inner-ring road network made mostly out of purpose-built motorway stretches which is mostly sub-terrain to the north of the city centre. Bradford, Huddersfield, Sheffield and York have inner-ring roads made by re-aligning existing roads while Halifax has a town-centre relief scheme made up of the Aachen Way and the North Bridge flyovers. The Office of the Traffic Commissioner central office is on the B6159 in east Leeds (Hillcrest House), which processes England and Wales LGV and PSV licences.

The Humber Bridge, the tallest bridge in the UK at 538 feet, was the world's longest suspension bridge from 17 July 1981 until 5 April 1998; it was built to connect with a proposed new town near the A15/M180 interchange.

Rail

The central hubs of the rail network in the region are Leeds, Sheffield and York. The East Coast Main Line passes through Leeds and York, operated by London North Eastern Railway which has its headquarters in York. The Midland Main Line finishes at Sheffield, with a less regular service to Leeds, operated by East Midlands Railway. East–west routes are operated by TransPennine Express to Manchester and Liverpool. Leeds has a fairly extensive commuter network and an electrified section in the North of Bradford provides many commuter services. Sheffield has a smaller commuter rail network and there are also less extensive systems in Doncaster, Huddersfield, Wakefield and Harrogate, which connect the districts of the settlements to the centre by rail. The express service between Leeds and Huddersfield is notably quick.

The South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and West Yorkshire Metro subsidise commuters' travel with discount schemes. Class 399 tram-trains were introduced in Sheffield in 2017.

Hull is connected to London by Hull Trains' services. North Yorkshire has a skeleton train network, with Scarborough and York being the main destinations. The Yorkshire Coast Line connects Hull to Scarborough. The Hull to York Line runs along the north of the Humber through Selby, and takes in Sherburn-in-Elmet and nearby rural stations south of York, being of great use to commuters to York since being reopened in the 1980s.

South of the Humber, Scunthorpe and nearby rural stations are connected by the South Humberside Main Line, run by Northern. Grimsby is connected (also through Scunthorpe) on TransPennine Express' South TransPennine route from Sheffield (originating at Manchester Airport).

The region is home to a rail land speed record. On 1 November 1987, an InterCity 125 travelled at 238 km/h between Northallerton and Thirsk.

Mass transit

Only Sheffield has its own mass-transit system, the Sheffield Supertram, owned by SYPTE and run by Stagecoach. Leeds and Bradford have more developed commuter rail systems but lack any mass transit system. The Leeds Supertram was an approved scheme in Leeds. However, the funding was pulled and the scheme has been replaced by the proposed Leeds Trolleybus scheme, which itself, was also cancelled. In the past Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Kingston upon Hull, Leeds, Rotherham, Sheffield and York have all had mass-transit systems.

Air

Airports in the region are Leeds Bradford Airport at Yeadon, Doncaster Sheffield Airport (which opened in April 2005 on the former RAF Finningley) near Doncaster and Humberside Airport (which opened in April 1974 on the former RAF Kirmington) near Brigg in North Lincolnshire. Leeds Bradford Airport is the largest in the region by passenger numbers, Robin Hood boasts the longest runway (2.7 km) of any airport in the region and Humberside Airport boasts an active heliport. Jet2.com, a popular low-cost airline at Leeds Bradford has around fifty Boeing 737 aircraft.

Sheffield City Airport formerly served the city of Sheffield. However, the airport struggled to attract many scheduled services and closed following the opening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Lying outside of the region Teesside International Airport (former RAF Middleton St George) serves the northernmost areas of the region, being next to the River Tees, and less than a mile from Over Dinsdale on North Yorkshire's northern edge. There are day and night direct rail connections from the region to Manchester Airport. National Express coach services also run directly to Heathrow Airport from the region.

Water

Hull has daily ferries (former North Sea Ferries) to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam (Europoort). Hull also has a large freight port and an active fishing port. Immingham carries much freight transport via DFDS Tor Line and the Stena Line. Goole is Britain's most inland port and is used mostly for importing commodities such as coal and timber.

The region also has a canal network. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal links West Yorkshire with the North West and the Aire and Calder Navigation links Leeds and the coal fields of West and North Yorkshire with the ports to the East of the region. There are also several smaller canals in the region, often built for quite specific purposes. Many stretches of the smaller canals in the region have been backfilled. The steepest locks in Britain are at Bingley – Bingley Five Rise Locks, built by John Longbotham, who designed the canal.

Economy

Until 2011, Yorkshire Forward was the Regional Development Agency charged with improving the Yorkshire and Humber economy, where some 270,000 businesses contribute to an economy worth in excess of £80 billion. The region has the second lowest rate of GVA in England. However, Leeds has a much higher average GVA than most of South Yorkshire. Business Link Yorkshire until November 2011 was on the Capitol Business Park in Dodworth, west of the M1 near Barnsley near the bypass (A628). The region's Manufacturing Advisory Service was until March 2016 at Saint Martins House in Potternewton next to Chapel Allerton Hospital, on the former A61, with two other offices at the Advanced Manufacturing Park, Catcliffe off the A630 Sheffield Parkway, and also on St. Georges Road in the west of Hull; the functions are now represented by the organisation Made in Yorkshire. The UKTI office for the region was off the A653, directly south of Bridgewater Place in Holbeck, and its successor (in July 2016) DIT Yorkshire and the Humber is at the Digital Media Centre near Barnsley Interchange, run by Mark Robson.

NHS Yorkshire and the Humber, the regional strategic health authority, was at the roundabout at the bottom of Kirkstall Road in Leeds, with another office in the north of Sheffield. The charity-funded Yorkshire Air Ambulance, established in October 2000, is based at Nostell Priory south-east of Wakefield on the A638 (previously at Leeds Bradford Airport) and RAF Topcliffe (previously until 2012 at Bagby Airfield near Thirsk); the helicopter can land on the main hospitals' roofs. The state-funded Yorkshire Ambulance Service is based next to Coca-Cola on the Wakefield 41 Business Park, near the A650. National Blood Service for the area is off the A6102 in the north of Sheffield, at the west end of the Northern General Hospital.

As of February 2025, the average property price in Yorkshire and the Humber is £232,511, reflecting a 4.1% increase over the past twelve months. Rental prices have also risen by 5.6% during this period, with the average monthly rent reaching £1,001. Some areas have outperformed the regional average, including Harrogate, where prices have risen by 6.2%, and Leeds, which has seen a 6.9% increase.

Yorkshire in the past has been synonymous with coal mining. Many pits closed in the 1990s, with the last two that were open in the Pontefract area at Kellingley (closed on 18 December 2015) and Sharlston. In South Yorkshire, there was Maltby Main Colliery and Hatfield Colliery (closed in June 2015) at Stainforth. The NUM was very Yorkshire-dominated. Coal still plays a part in the economy – there are two large power stations along the Aire Valley, with Drax being the second largest in Europe with 3,945 MW of capacity, and Eggborough which is owned by the Czech Republic's Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) since 2014 and was owned by British Energy until 2010; Ferrybridge C closed on 23 March 2016. The distribution area once looked after by the regional electricity company Yorkshire Electricity is now looked after by Northern Powergrid (former YEDL), owned by Berkshire Hathaway (since 2001) of Omaha, Nebraska. The supply side of the region is now owned by npower (former National Power, now owned by RWE of Essen, Germany). Of the UK's oil, 29% is refined on the Humber.

East and North

Scunthorpe is where steel is smelted by British Steel Limited (former Corus Group before September 2010 then Tata Steel Europe until June 2016) in the east of the town; it is the largest steelworks in the UK. Golden Wonder crisps are made in Frodingham, opposite the steel works (former site of Riley's Potato Crisps); the brand originated in Scotland. Esca Food Solutions (another plant was in Milton Keynes before October 2007) make all the beef patties for McDonald's in the UK and Ireland at their factory in Crosby in the north-west of the town, processing around 7000 cattle a week – about 12,000 kg an hour; 2.25m cattle are killed in the UK each year. IAC Group (Ecomold before 2008) have a car interiors plant on the Foxhills Industrial Estate in the north of Scunthorpe off the A1077; to the west, Can-Pack UK (parent company in Kraków) is on the Skippingdale Industrial Estate, and makes aluminium beverage cans; further north, Nisa (retailer) have their headquarters on the Normanby Enterprise Park, in Flixborough off the B1430.

Further south on the Foxhills Industrial Estate towards the A1077, Wren Kitchens have a large factory in a former B&Q warehouse, which closed in 2009; next-door to the north, 2 Sisters Food Group have a large chicken processing plant (Premier Fresh Foods before 2000), built in 1988 as one of the largest plants of its type in Europe, which processes around 1,900,000 chickens per week (customers include KFC). TSC Foods on the Queensway Industrial Estate at the A18/A1029 roundabout in south-east Scunthorpe supply many foodservice products (sauces) to most UK pub chains. Caparo Merchant Bar, next to the steel works in Scunthorpe, are the UK's largest producer of merchant bar; nearby is British Steel Wire Rod. Vossloh Cogifer UK (former Corus Cogifer before 2012), a joint venture of Vossloh Cogifer (of Reichshoffen) and the former Corus Rail, make railway points to the west of Scunthorpe; Voestalpine also make train tracks too at a huge foundry in Austria

Pipers Crisps are on a former airfield next to the A15 at Elsham; next door is IG Industries who produce polyethylene films (shrink wrap). There are two large oil refineries west of Immingham, owned by ConocoPhillips (Jet) and TotalEnergies. Kimberly-Clark made all of its Huggies nappies for Europe at Barton-upon-Humber until 2013; since 2016, the site has been the headquarters and factory of Wren Kitchens. Techrete on the B1207 in the north of Hibaldstow, next to the railway line, is the UK's leading maker of architectural precast cladding. County Turf, off the B1207 (Ermine Street) in Appleby made the turf for Wembley Stadium, who replaced Inturf of Wilberfoss. There is a large CEMEX cement plant at Winteringham off the A1077 at the meeting point of the New River Ancholme and the Humber (Ferriby Sluice).

West and South

Leeds is now a centre of financial services companies, with Direct Line and First Direct based there, as well as Asda, Arla Foods UK (maker of Lurpak and Anchor butter) in Stourton near the A639 junction 44 of the M1 (formerly in Kirkstall near Yorkshire Television). The Green Flag roadside recovery firm has its main call centre (in Farsley). HSBC opened their first UK call centre in the city, taking advantage of its advanced communications network which also led to the founding of Freeserve in Leeds. The Department of Health has a large administration operation at Quarry House, a local landmark. The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission was at One Leeds City Office Park until 2012, off the A653 south of Bridgewater Place. The NHS Appointments Commission and former NHS Yorkshire and the Humber were next to the north side of the A65 at the A58(M) junction near the former Park Lane College, where further east along the A58 is the Callcredit credit reference agency, and on the opposite side of the inner ring-road from the Skills for Care sector skills council. The Waddingtons board game company was founded in Leeds, as was the Burton tailoring company (the Burton Group became the Arcadia Group) and Marks & Spencer. The Tetley's Brewery closed in 2011 and moved operations to Northampton (Carlsberg). Aramark UK is in West Park, Leeds, in the north of the city, off the ring road.

The British Library is sited at Thorpe Arch near Wetherby, home of Goldenfry. Dr. Oetker products are made at Colton near M1 junction 46 and Sherburn-in-Elmet; at Thorpe Park Business Park in the east of Leeds (Austhorpe) also is Northern Gas Networks and Republic (retailer). Ellie Louise, a clothes retailer, is at Sturton Grange north of Garforth on the A642, south of M1 junction 47 on the Helios 47 Industrial Estate, near Ginetta Cars. Unilever Leeds (former Gibbs Proprietaries from 1965, then Elida Gibbs from 1971, then Elida Fabergé) have their aerosol division at Whinmoor, in north-east Leeds, administered by Lever Fabergé. It claims to be the largest aerosol factory in the world, and has their research centre, and makes Impulse, Lynx, Dove and Sure. Agfa Graphics (Belgian) have their only UK factory next to Fabergé in Whinmoor, making computer to plate offset printers; 85% of the world's banknotes are printed with the parent company's technology. Nearby in Seacroft is Komori UK (printing presses).

Symington's make breakfast cereals on the Thornes Farm Business Park, near the A63 (M1 junction 45). Sound Leisure is the UK's leading manufacturer of juke boxes. WABCO Vehicle Control Systems UK (air brakes) is in Morley, and QHotels are on Bruntcliffe Road (A650) in Bruntcliffe. East of Morley off the A6110 is DePuy International (orthopaedics). Hermes Europe (former Parcelnet before 2009, which was Directline and Speedlink before 1999), based at Capitol Park on the A650 at Topcliffe, is the UK's largest home delivery company, and is part of Grattan's parent company. Hainsworth makes speciality textiles such as military uniforms and in 1975 produced the first Nomex flame-retardant flight suits for fast-jet pilots in the UK; their TITAN outfit is used by riot police and firefighters, with ceremonial fabrics made from worsted barathea, and uniform caps for the Household Division, and uniforms for others such as London Underground. Clariant UK, the chemical company, was in Yeadon, with a factory in Horsforth; Brenntag UK is based at the A65/A658 junction at Rawdon Park in Yeadon (former Albion Chemicals before 2006) next to the fire station.

Education

There are 15 local education authorities in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The schools in each authority are listed in the following –

List of schools in Barnsley

List of schools in Bradford

List of schools in Calderdale

List of schools in Doncaster

List of schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire

List of schools in Kingston upon Hull

List of schools in Kirklees

List of schools in Leeds

List of schools in North East Lincolnshire

List of schools in North Lincolnshire

List of schools in North Yorkshire

List of schools in Rotherham

List of schools in Sheffield

List of schools in Wakefield

List of schools in York

Secondary education

Schools are mostly comprehensive, with some grammar schools in North Yorkshire, Calderdale and Kirklees.

There are around 235,000 at the region's secondary schools, the 4th lowest for English regions. The region has the highest overall truancy rate in England for both urban and rural areas. Inside the region for districts, Leeds has the highest rate with 6.9% persistent truants at secondary school, then Hull is second with 6.3%. Calderdale has the lowest truancy rate for unitary authorities, almost half that of Leeds, followed by North Lincolnshire. For districts Craven has the lowest rate.

The schools in Hull have often performed among the worst (on average) in England at GCSE after Knowsley in Merseyside. To Hull's credit, three schools in its LEA get above-average GCSE results whereas Knowsley usually has none (it managed two in 2010). Also at GCSE, schools in Barnsley and Bradford have low-achieving results with Barnsley the worst of these, and the lowest in the region in 2010. All three of these areas coincidentally have an above-average teenage pregnancy problem. In past years, Doncaster would be included in this group, but has managed to perform much better. For the metropolitan areas, Calderdale and Wakefield consistently perform the best, with both above the England average. Rotherham usually has the best results in South Yorkshire, but in 2010 it was Doncaster. York and North Yorkshire consistently perform the best at GCSE in the region, and with the East Riding of Yorkshire have results above the UK average.

Schoolchildren in Kingston upon Hull are most likely not to pass any GCSEs – over 6% with Bradford having a similar proportion, closely followed by Sheffield and North East Lincolnshire. The East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire have the fewest not passing any GCSEs, followed by York.

For OFSTED inspections across England, the region has the highest proportion of schools (2.7%) with bad behaviour and the lowest proportion (16.3%) of schools with good behaviour. South West England has the best behaving schoolchildren. Inside the region, Hull has the highest proportion (16.7%) of schools with bad behaviour – the worst in England (Wandsworth and Bristol come joint second) – and York schools have the highest proportion (30%) of schools with outstanding behaviour.

Colleges

There are twenty-seven FE colleges. The main five colleges are Bradford College, East Riding College, Doncaster College, Grimsby Institute, and Hull College.

Universities

There are ten universities and three higher education colleges in Yorkshire and the Humber, along with (in 2007) 27 Further Education colleges teaching some Higher Education courses.

The Krebs Cycle was discovered at the University of Sheffield in 1937. Liquid crystal displays were developed by the University of Hull in 1972, in conjunction with the Royal Radar Establishment in Worcestershire. Low fat spreads were developed at the University of Leeds (in conjunction with Unilever) in the 1980s, and in the 1930s William Astbury's x-ray diffraction experiments at the university started the road to the discovery of the double helix structure.

Sheffield Hallam University is the largest in the region with 37,000 students, but does not have the most funding. The University of Leeds is not too far behind. The University of York, a large collegiate university, gets much less funding than Leeds and Sheffield, but has quite a high research grant for its size, about half that of Leeds or Sheffield. The other universities do not have large research grants. Leeds and Sheffield have around twice as much total income than any other university. York and Bradford are the two smallest universities.

Local media

Television

The region receives various regional television programmes:

BBC Look North in Leeds that covers West, South and North Yorkshire.

BBC Look North in Hull which covers the East Riding of Yorkshire, North and North East Lincolnshire.

BBC Look North in Newcastle that covers parts of North Yorkshire including Whitby, Northallerton and Richmond.

BBC North West Tonight in Salford covering western Craven in North Yorkshire such as Settle.

ITV Yorkshire is on Kirkstall Road to the west of Leeds city centre, which broadcasts Calendar that covers the whole region.

ITV Granada and ITV Tyne Tees also cover parts of the region.

Digital switchover took place in August 2011 for most of the region, with Emley Moor (the main TV transmitter for West, South and North Yorkshire) converting to digital in mid-September. Emley Moor is the tallest free-standing structure in the UK, and the 25th tallest in the world, and was designed by Ove Arup. The original tower famously collapsed in March 1969.

Radio

High Hunsley transmitter covers most of the region and overlap into other regions. Local commercial stations include Hits Radio West Yorkshire (Bradford), Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, Hits Radio South Yorkshire (Sheffield), Heart Yorkshire (Tingley), Capital Yorkshire and 107.8 Beverley FM.

BBC Local Radio services in the region include stations for Humberside, Leeds, Sheffield, York and Tees which serves Whitby.

National radio is broadcast from Belmont in the south-east, Bilsdale for North Yorkshire, and Holme Moss for South and West Yorkshire. Moorside Edge east of Scammonden Water near the M62 is a main 5 Live transmitter on 909 MW.

News and other print

Polestar Petty in central Leeds, with web offset, for many years printed TVTimes, Radio Times, and many colour supplements, including the Daily Mail weekend magazine, but closed in December 2014.

Local newspapers are the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, Evening Courier, Grimsby Telegraph, Huddersfield Examiner, Hull Daily Mail, The Scarborough News, Scunthorpe Telegraph, Sheffield Star, The Press (York), Wakefield Express, Yorkshire Evening Post and Yorkshire Post.

RR Donnelley UK Directory of Flaxby Moor, printed the Yellow Pages, until the site closed at the end of 2015. Polestar Chantry, off the A650 on the Wakefield 41 estate, prints Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Weekly, Real Life, BBC Good Food, BBC Gardeners' World, Prima, Woman & Home, Red, and Country Life. Polestar Sheffield prints the Telegraph magazine, and Hello!.