The mayor of Greater Lincolnshire has vowed to ‘supercharge’ economic growth across the region and has pledged improvements to farming, transport and support for veterans.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns (Reform UK) hosted the Great Exhibition of Lincolnshire where she outlined her ambitions for the county and how she intends to boost economic growth in the region, saying: “I want to supercharge it not just for the next few years, but for generations to come.

“I want Greater Lincolnshire to be a global leader in industries that will shape our future.”

At the event at the Lincolnshire Showground on Wednesday, October 21, the mayor outlined her plans to improve public transport across the area.

A driverless bus from company Omhio at the Lincolnshire Exhibition. Credit: LDRS

placeholder image — A driverless bus from company Omhio at the Lincolnshire Exhibition. Credit: LDRS

Ms Jenkyns arrived on stage via a driverless bus and came armed with a space helmet, and declared: “Welcome to the future."

She said she’d been inspired by recent visits to ‘smart cities’ in Texas and wanted tech like AI and automation to be applied to rural areas too.

“Now we need to look at how these technologies can connect rural communities, our towns and villages once again.

“This will give us more independence. That’s why I arrived here today – as crazy as it is – on a driverless bus. I want us to use this technology across Greater Lincolnshire.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns is joined by a robot on stage at the exhibition. Photo: LDRS

“Imagine autonomous buses connecting our villages, our towns, our cities, then perhaps finally we’ll have a public transport system that runs exactly where people need it.”

Visitors were able to take a ride on one of the self-driving vehicles around the Showground. She later confirmed that trials for driverless buses will begin next year on local roads.

The Mayor said the county’s traditional strengths like agriculture, aviation and energy could also be supercharged with innovative new technology. Ms Jenkyns also said she was “incredibly proud” of people serving in the military and outlined her plans to create a veterans community to support them.

She added: “I want Greater Lincolnshire to become the gold standard of how we look after our veterans – because these brave men and women fought for us and it’s time that we fought for them.

Mayor of Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns. Photo Ldrs

“So, what we are doing, we’re starting to build, this year our first veterans village.

“Now I want this to be the first one we do and then every town I would like to see us having support for our veterans.”

Dame Jenkyns also called for the county to be chosen for the first national space defence facility.

Graeme Ritchie, chief executive of Lincoln company Shield Space, said the final frontier was vital for everything from warfare to communications, and Lincolnshire’s defence sector placed it well to take advantage of that.

A dancing robot at the Lincolnshire Exhibition Credit: LDRS

“Lincolnshire helped build the age of aviation, now you can help build the age of space power,” he said.

The Great Exhibition aimed to showcase the area’s pioneering businesses, agricultural producers and technical innovators.

The exhibition hall had speaking and dancing robots alongside more traditional businesses.

The Greater Lincolnshire mayor also discussed her ambition for robots harvesting crops, artificial intelligence helping farmers and automated food production.

Exhibitors at the event included Associated British Ports, Humber Energy Board and Step Fusion – with delegations from 12 countries including Taiwan, the USA, Poland, Bangladesh, Canada and Lithuania also attending the event.

It also included speeches from political figures including Newark MP Robert Jenrick (Reform UK) and former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss.