Reflections From Our Chair

Travelling through our wonderful region recently, seeing the trees change to their Autumn colours, I reflected on the changes we have seen over the last year and a half. As Chair of the Team Lincolnshire Steering Group I am fortunate to see some of the diverse and great work done and it was great to take a moment to celebrate all we have achieved.

The resilience, innovation and support our ambassador programme has demonstrated during and as we emerge out of the pandemic has been truly remarkable. As a group we really have flourished.

We have all seen Team Lincolnshire not only grow in strength and numbers, but also use the pandemic as a catalyst to be innovative and bring value to businesses; elevating Team Lincolnshire as a major influencer in the growth and success of the region.

In October 2020 we launched a new two year business plan, setting clear and meaningful objectives around investment, development and growth across our sectors; this gave us much needed direction in a time of uncertainty.

Since our plan was launched we have exceeded many of the measures of success:

• Creating 214 jobs for the region
• Increasing membership from 109 to 128 ambassadors
• Collaborating more than 200 times to aid growth in our economy and in our business community

Team Lincolnshire has been a significant player in securing investment for the South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone in Holbeach with many members being involved in its development. Our webinar dedicated to the project back in March 21 attracted a worldwide audience with over 400 delegates registered adding to a significant number of inward investment enquiries. The development of our Sector Investment Propositions in Agrifood, Low Carbon Energy & Industry, Logistics and Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing has no doubt helped to entice further interest in our region across these key sectors.

Our collaboration has helped bring forward a wealth of schemes across the whole of Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland and delivering some integral projects for the region. From major commercial and residential developments, to educational assets such as the Medical School at the University of Lincoln, working with the NHS, sourcing much needed PPE gear at the start of the pandemic, facilitating major sustainability projects, supporting young people via our skills agenda, and supporting the visitor economy, the fruits of our work together can be seen all across the region.

With social restrictions in place, we have successfully delivered a host of digital events, which enable us to continue to provide a platform for learning and collaboration. Our Coffee Clubs in particular provided a space for members to meet, support each other and also share advice and information. I would like to personally thank all those members who hosted and attended over the past eighteen months helping us deliver 67 TLCs to date!

The sixteen webinars we have delivered have been and remain a great source of information, and off the back of them we are already seeing interest and investment in a range of sectors such as Agri-food, the Town Deals, Modern Methods of Construction, Freeports, and Low-carbon Measures and the wider Green agenda.

At the core of all these incredible projects and achievements are our members and the passion we all share for Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland. This combined with innovation and expertise and the determination to create a flourishing, resilient and robust regional economy. All this is helping create an attractive, place to live, work, invest and learn for generations to come. Our region and the incredible opportunities we have here will be further promoted through our brand new Team Lincolnshire website that will be launched on Tuesday, 26th October!

I am sure you will agree that this is an exciting time for Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland. We have proved that we are not only a region with resilience, but we are bucking the trend with more and more businesses realising what an intelligent choice Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland is in which to locate.

When we launched the business plan we spoke about our focus for 2022 – 2024 in Renewables, Carbon Reduction, the Visitor Economy, Health & Care and Digital Technology. I am pleased to say we have already been making significant progress in many of these areas and we can now start focussing on them further along with our initial five core objectives. Sector propositions are already in development for the Visitor Economy and others will follow for Health & Care and Digital Technology to help showcase our region's investment opportunities.

As we move forward into the second year of our Business Plan and beyond I want to say thank you, and let's keep flying the flag for this diverse and dynamic county!

So as the seasons change, I am joyful that the resilience, determination, optimism and sense of pride in our place of the Team Lincolnshire community remains unchanged, and a constant to be celebrated.

Simon Morris

Chair of the Team Lincolnshire Steering Group