Nottingham sees upswing in inward investment enquiries

Inward investment body Invest in Nottingham says the signs for the city’s economy are “encouraging”, following an upturn in enquiries.

The news comes as the organisation releases its annual report. The reviewm which covers the period from April 2020 to March 2021, paints picture of the local inward investment activity, unsurprisingly showing a significant reduction of new potential investment enquiries coming into the team in the period immediately following the first UK lockdown in March 2020, right through to the end of the year.

However, during the first three months of 2021, Invest in Nottingham’s team received 31 new enquiries – 65% of the annual total. This report concludes that this, “…could be related to increased confidence in certain markets and the general ‘bounce-back’ that the economy is experiencing. It could also be that many of the projects delayed at the start of the pandemic have been re-ignited at the end of the financial year, as the UK roadmap out of lockdown has been clearer.”

Lorraine Baggs, head of investment at Invest in Nottingham said, “We saw a lot of live projects stall following the announcement of the first UK lockdown and many of these are now regaining momentum, which also mirrors the upturn in new enquiries that the team has been receiving. The really encouraging thing is that this trend is continuing as we move through 2021 and is giving us a healthy pipeline of potential inward investment into Nottingham.”