Lorraine Baggs: ‘I wouldn’t want to have done this in any other city’

Lorraine Baggs, the outgoing head of inward investment at Invest in Nottingham, has told TheBusinessDesk.com that she couldn’t have imagined doing the job in any other city.

Baggs, who led the organisation for 16 years, retired on Wednesday (March 23) and has admitted it hasn’t been an easy decision.

She said: “It’s been a hard choice to make, but it’s the right time for me, for the business and for the city and wider county.

“I’m not decrying the need for knowledge and experience, but I really do feel it’s time for fresh blood. And, personally, this job has been all-consuming.”

Baggs admits that there have been plenty of challenges during her time as the face of inward investment in Nottingham. She called the landscape of the East Midlands “confusing”, and added: “A lack of funding limits long-term planning. The region also suffers from a lack of identity. The challenges have been many and numerous and perhaps I’m a little battle-weary.

“Everyone wants inward investment – but nobody wants to pay for it. We’ve had the funding sword of Damocles hanging over us for so long and that stops any kind of substantial long-term planning.”

Baggs said at times her organisation has been living “hand-to-mouth”, adding there is a general sense of frustration at what she could’ve achieved given sufficient funding.

She said: “However, the new Combined Authority and the new CEO at Marketing Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, Megan Powell Vreeswijk, will make a huge difference. We need someone ready for the next chapter.”

Baggs’ best piece of advice for her successor would be “listen to those the coalface”.

“Inward Investment is a very niche area,” she said. “There are a huge amount of opinions shared by people who don’t know anything about inward investment. We have an exceptional team of professionals here who haven’t been given the funding they need to produce the best results they can.”

Baggs has a long list of “best bits” from the last 16 years. Among them she lists the arrival of Specsavers in Nottingham, the development of Unity Square, working with Conygar on the Island Quarter scheme, the Nottingham in Parliament Day and working with the late Jim Taylor, the director of development at Nottingham City Council, who she describes as “an amazing person”.

She also mentions setting up the Team Nottingham presence at MIPIM and the cycle to Cannes project, which lead to the Tour de Nottingham.

“There are too many to mention,” she says.

Baggs says her job in Nottingham has “never not changed” over the last 16 years. She mentions Invest in Nottingham leaving the bosom of the city council and being forced to go it alone as one of the biggest. She also jokes about bemoaning the lack of Grade A offices in Nottingham for so long, only for Covid to come along and squash demand for 20,000 sq ft footplates in an instant.

“Occasionally I felt like leaving,” she said. “But I never did – I’m too passionate about this city.

Baggs admits that she’ll miss the day-to-day life of working in the office.

“I suffer from acute FOMO,” she said, “but now’s the time to focus on friends and family. However, I’d like to think there’s someone out there who might be able to take advantage of my skills and experience…”