Lincoln ready to be “better than Nottingham and Birmingham”
Lincoln doesn’t quite know how good it is – that was the message from TheBusinessDesk.com’s sell-out economic debate in the city last Thursday (14 September).
Dave Reid, operations director at Willmott Dixon – the contractor responsible for developing large swathes of the city centre, told the audience at The Lawn: “Nottingham and Birmingham have been traditionally better at shouting about themselves than Lincoln, but the city doesn’t know how good it is – and how good it will be.
“Nottingham and Birmingham are good, but I’ll tell you this: Lincoln is going to be better.”
Tom Blount from the University of Lincoln Science and Innovation Park agreed. He said: “Lincoln has found its distinctive voice. We’ve been doing a lot of work with the Greater Lincolnshire Enterprise Partnership around place marketing, and we’re confident the area has a very definite offering. We’ve got the right blend.”
Peter Horner of Langleys Solicitors was equally as optimistic for the future. He told the audience: “I first started working in Lincoln two decades ago, and the city has expanded beyond all recognition. What we need to do now is ensure that graduates and others in their twenties look beyong the bright lights of Sheffield and Nottingham and stay to work and live here.”
Harvey Dowdy from the University of Lincoln said the future was bright for people wanting to study in the city and wider region. She said: “You might have heard that we’ve withdrawn the residential plans for the Riseholme campus and we want to turn it into a centre for agriculture, while at the same time delivering a mix of high quality further and higher education.”
Stevie Heafford of Wright Vigar: “Lincoln has historically lost out to bigger cities, but I’d say those days could be coming to an end. I’ve spent a lot of my time working across the bigger cities in the Midlands, but there is a real sense now that Lincoln has got a very exciting future ahead of it.”
With thanks to sponsors Wright Vigar and Langleys.
