Lincolnshire Enterprise is committed to improving Lincolnshire's economy through delivering the Lincolnshire Economic Strategy and Action Plan which was created through a consultative process. It is the blueprint for partnership working that demonstrates how we will deliver sustainable improvement to the  county's economy.  The overall aim is for Lincolnshire to stop lagging behind the rest of the country and to make a positive contribution to the achievement of the East Midlands becoming a flourishing region by 2020.


The Lincolnshire Economic Strategy has been developed by the Lincolnshire Enterprise Partnership and has been endorsed by the Lincolnshire Assembly.  It forms the basis of the Local Area Agreement Enterprise and Economic Development Block.  The current situation is that Lincolnshire is facing economic crisis with low productivity and economic growth resulting in a widening gap between Lincolnshire, the East Midlands and the rest of the UK.  The county’s productivity declined in the 1990s, falling from 87% of the UK average in 1995 to 75% in 2000.  Lincolnshire’s economy has been growing slowly at around 1% per annum compared to the national average of 2.5% and one of the Strategy’s aims is to close this gap.

The challenges

• The dominance of traditional sectors and lack of sectors that will drive the economy forward like business to business.

• Lincolnshire's sparse population particularly in the north and east; remoteness; the low wage, low skill economy and the casual and seasonal nature of much work resulting in around 100,000 people being in labour market difficulty.

• Three of the East Midlands' 5 'lagging districts' (rural areas characterised by low income) are in Lincolnshire, and the sub region is the only one of England's 5 sparse areas that is in the East Midlands.
  

• One third of people of working age have below level 2 or no qualifications, and unqualified people earn one third of the amount graduates earn.
  

Targets

In order to deliver economic growth of an average of 4% p.a. to 2016, the following targets have been set:

• Match the average UK skills position by 2016 - 115,000 one level improvements in qualifications

• Increase in the number of businesses to 2,200 (11%)

• Create an annual average of 1,000 new jobs and £160 million of investment from investors new to Lincolnshire

• Have a suitable supply of property in each local area

• Take advantage of major transformational sites and smaller sites in and around market towns

Download the Lincolnshire Economic Strategy.