Kent's seaside towns need government help to boost business
Kent's seaside towns are not just about rock and candyfloss - they are great places to do business with too.
That's the hard-hitting message from one of Kent's new MPs who has already won a top level meeting with a government minister to drive home the attractions seaside areas offer for both business and tourism.
Laura Sandys is the new Conservative MP for South Thanet.
She wants to see a Marine Energy Park established and has won a meeting with Mark Prisk, the minister of state at the business, innovation and skills department.
She said: "I want to ensure ministers across all departments understand the particularly characteristics and challenges facing seaside towns.
"While our constituencies might be only a few miles from quite prosperous parts of the country, many of our seaside towns face very different challenges and often have a much lower standard of living than the average in England.
"That difference can be seen in quite startling contrast a mere 10 miles inland.
"We frequently see a much higher levels of deprivation, incapacity benefit and joblessness in our seaside towns. In some instances we also have a high proportion of jobs in the public sector.
"I am calling for a cross-departmental task force to ensure that our particular challenges are addressed and understood with a particular focus on job creation and support for small business start ups.
"We need to re-balance our economy - and this is particularly important in our most deprived coastal towns.
"Thanet for example has a huge opportunity to benefit from small sector tourism businesses, jobs in the green economy and small start ups.
"I want to ensure that our voice is heard and that our interests are served and very much welcomed the ministers enthusiasm to meet with us."
She said it is not all about tourism, although that is also of vital importance to areas like Margate and Broadstairs.
Laura said: "Our seaside towns have been left at the end of the line for many years.
"They have high numbers of people unable to work plus poor housing stocks. This has got worse over the last few decades and it's time this deterioration is halted.
"Large companies need to move into the areas and boost the workforce numbers. We need government to understand there are special characteristics in the seaside areas and help where it can to make the areas attractive for companies to set up.
"The South East is known as a prosperous area but its seaside towns are not - Thanet in particular seriously doesn't match the profile of the south east.
"Thanet would benefit dramatically from a strong focus on marine energy and the green economy that goes with that.
"Many jobs could be created with a Marine Energy Park. Thanet has the largest wind farm in the world making this an ideal area to establish a Marine Energy Park. This would help create a cluster of businesses moving in and creating new jobs.
"We need a two-pronged approach - we need to boost both businesses and tourism.
"On the tourism side, we want to see major national tourism drives to promote what our seaside towns have to offer. We want to see the Kent seaside industry great again."
Answering a parliamentary question from Ms Sandys, Mr Prisk, said: "I would be more than happy to meet my honourable friend and her colleagues. It is important to recognise some of the special problems in particular locations, and start-ups are crucial in that respect."
In the North East, a Marine Energy Park on Teeside is set to create thousands of new jobs thanks to a £400 million investment on the south bank of the Humber.
Source: Businessforkent.co.uk
