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Download the East Kent LSP newsletter issue 1 here

	Award Recognises Council's Support for Small Businesses Canterbury City Council has been presented with an award by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) to recognise excellence and innovation in its support of small businesses. Read more
	Flybe opens up Garden of England Leading regional airline announces brand new Manston to Edinburgh route with first scheduled daily service from Kent airport. Read more
	Top science company to locate with Pfizer in East Kent  Peakdale, a leading research services company , announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Pfizer. Read more
	High Speed 1 meeting with Minister shows benefit of partnership working Regional Minister for the South East meets with public sector and business leaders to discuss the economic potential of the high speed rail service. Read more
	Number One B&B, Deal Voted amongst top 10 in the world We are pleased to annouce that the Number One B&B has been rated as No8 in the world and No2 in Europe. Tripadvisor's Travellers' Choice Awards 2010 Number One B&B website
	East Kent goes high speed Full High Speed 1 services were launched in East Kent on 14th December 2009. Media articles about High Speed 1

March 11th 2010

Award Recognises Council's Support for Small Businesses

Canterbury City Council has been presented with an award by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) to recognise excellence and innovation in its support of small businesses.

The Canterbury district has a high number of small to medium enterprises and these make up a large part of the local economy. The award acknowledges the council's commitment to engaging with these businesses, offering support and advice to help them thrive. The FSB particularly highlighted the positive impact of the Bay and Whit Card schemes on businesses in our coastal towns during the recession.  The scheme introduced by Chris West, Coastal Town Centres Manager, allows businesses to offer discounts and incentives to residents encouraging them to shop locally and support the economy.

The Small Business Friendly Local Authority Award was presented by Tony Pringle, FSB Chairman for East Kent Branch, to the council's Local Economy team at Canterbury4Business breakfast meeting today (Tuesday 24 February).

The city council's support for small businesses includes March Business Month, Business Link, Canterbury4Business, Whitstable Enterprise Centre and Lakesview Office Village. Through these ventures, the council is often the first point of call for new and small businesses in the district.

In March last year, the council became the first local authority in the county to sign the FSB small business engagement accord. This sees them commit to 14 principles that promote the importance of listening to the views of small businesses.

And last August, the council further demonstrated that support by signing up to the national small business-friendly concordat. It now provides online details of forthcoming bidding opportunities and contact details for each contract, in addition to the wide range of information about doing business with the council that already exists. 

ENDS

For further information please contact the Canterbury City Council Press Office:

T: 01227 862050
F: 01227 764922
E: press.office@canterbury.gov.uk
W: www.canterbury.gov.uk 

February 15th 2010

Flybe Opens Up Garden Of England

Leading regional airline announces brand new Manston to Edinburgh route with first scheduled daily service from Kent airport.

Flybe, the UK's Number One Domestic Airline, has today announced another brand new route namely a daily Edinburgh to Manston service that, apart from opening up the Garden of England to the Scottish market also offers regional travellers the only scheduled flight to be currently operated out of Kent International Airport.

Tickets are on sale now at Flybe | Cheap flights & budget flights from £24.99 one way including taxes and charges for travel effective May 27th through to 30th October. The new route, with a flight time of just 80 minutes, will be operated by Flybe's fuel efficient 78- seat Bombardier Q-400 turboprop aircraft. 

The announcement further reinforces Flybe's commitment to offering an extensive choice of convenient, affordable regional travel.

Mike Rutter, Flybe's Chief Commercial Officer says: We're delighted to be adding this new service to the South East from Edinburgh and also to being the first carrier to offer Kent travellers a scheduled service out of Kent International. It also reflects our commitment to continued growth from our Edinburgh base and also to our development into new regions.

Edinburgh Airport has welcomed the news with Gordon Dewar, Managing Director, commenting: "The creation of this route underlines Edinburgh's attraction as a destination in the domestic UK market and we're excited that Flybe has picked up on the demand to create a link between Scotland's Capital and the South of England.

"Flybe is one of the largest carriers at Edinburgh and has assisted us in becoming the UK's fastest growing airport. We value that relationship and look forward to working with them on further routes and other mutual development."

Kent International Airport is located in east Kent, just a couple of miles from the popular seaside destinations of Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate and within easy reach of picturesque Whitstable, historic Canterbury with its world famous cathedral and, of course, Dover's iconic White Cliffs.

Matt Clarke, Chief Executive of Kent International Airport, adds: I'm sure this route will be hugely popular with people in Kent because Edinburgh is such a great place to visit with its history, culture and, of course, its world-famous festivals.

Looking forward to welcoming Scottish visitors to Kent, he added: Flying to Kent International is a hassle free way to arrive in south east England. Our airport is easy to get to, easy to find your way around and allows passengers to enjoy flying the way it's meant to be, boarding an aircraft merely metres from where you have parked your car!

Flybe offers passengers a quality range of benefits that includes per-assigned seating, Premium Economy travel with dedicated Executive Lounges, a generous Rewards4all loyalty programme as well as onward travel to an attractive choice of destinations from Edinburgh with flights operated by its franchise partner, Loganair.

Mr Rutter concludes: We expect our new route to be popular both with business travellers and with those planning their holidays or weekends away and wanting their budgets to go as far as possible and we'd advise people to book early to take advantage of the lowest possible fares."

DAILY SCHEDULE:

Sundays and Monday - Friday
 Flight departs Edinburgh 1050 arr Manston 1220
 Flight departs Manston 1245 arr Edinburgh 1415

Saturday
 Flight departs Edinburgh 1450 arr Manston 1620
 Flight departs Manston 1645 arr Edinburgh 1815

ENDS

For further press information, photography or, to arrange an interview, please contact the Flybe press office:
T: 0845 6750681 E: pressoffice@flybe.com

Kent International Contact: Richard Coleman at Maxim PR T: 01892 513033 

February 1st 2010 

Peakdale Molecular Limited announces innovative on-site research colaboration with Pfizer Sandwich Laboratories

Peakdale Molecular Limited ("Peakdale"), a leading research Services Company headquartered in the UK, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Pfizer Limited. Peakdale Molecular, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Peakdale Chemistry Services Ltd, will supply custom synthetic chemistry services to Pfizer on-site at the company's laboratories in Sandwich, UK. This will involve building a team of more than 50 synthetic chemists at the Pfizer Research site in Kent, supplementing the main Peakdale facility in Derbyshire, which employs 90 synthetic chemists.

This facility will not only provide on-site chemistry resources for Pfizer, but also provide a resource for other developing companies in the vicinity. The presence of a world class chemistry development facility will add to the attraction of the Sandwich site as an innovation hub for the region.

Dr Tony Wood, Vice President, Pfizer World-Wide Medicinal Chemistry said: "Synthetic organic chemistry sits at the centre of drug discovery. This collaboration will allow Pfizer to continue to develop a strong community of experienced synthetic chemists within its facilities and enhance the overall culture of synthetic chemistry at the Sandwich site."

"The positioning of Peakdale chemists close to the core of our research operations gives a unique opportunity in this outsourced space," said David Roblin, Sandwich Head of Research and Site Director of Pfizer Sandwich Laboratories. "In addition, this move begins to enhance the utilisation of the real estate assets we have at Sandwich. I hope this is just the first example we will see in this vein."

"This is a great opportunity for Peakdale to contribute to Pfizer's success as the Pharmaceutical Industry seeks to become more efficient and responsive to the rapidly changing environment of drug discovery", said Ray Fisher, PhD, Founder and CEO, Peakdale Molecular Limited. "We are extremely pleased that Pfizer has chosen us to promote this new initiative and see this model as one way to bring the entrepreneurial spirit of smaller companies to synergise with the expertise and know-how of an established world leader."

ENDS

26 January 2010

High Speed 1 meeting with Minister shows benefit of partnership working, says East Kent LSP Chair

Jonathan Shaw MP, the Regional Minister for the South East, came to Folkestone on 21^st January to meet public sector and business leaders to discuss how the area can maximise the economic potential of the new high speed rail service between East Kent and London. Described as "The East Kent Conversation," the meeting was hosted by East Kent LSP at The Quarterhouse, the new theatre and performance venue in Folkestone's Creative Quarter.

Local authority districts were represented at the event, along with senior people from the manufacturing, services, tourism, voluntary, culture and education sectors.  Among the businesses and councils to attend the event were: Pfizer; Dover-based international freight forwarding company, John Shirley Ltd; Saga; Vattenfall (Thanet and Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farms); the University of Kent and Thanet, Dover and Shepway District Councils. 

"This was a wholly productive meeting" says EKLSP Chair, Geoff Miles, "and demonstrated the important role the LSP is playing in bringing together a broad range of talent, expertise and experience to contribute towards creating strategies of long term benefit to the area.

"The Minister heard a wide range of views and ideas, expressed in a completely non-partisan way. Everyone involved had the future of the area at heart. I would like to see a meeting with the regional minister become an annual fixture."

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Shaw said: "The new High Speed 1 service presents huge opportunities for East Kent, both for commuters and the economy, in terms of investment and tourism.

It brings closer connections between the area and London and so further opens up East Kent for business. It makes the area more attractive for inward investment."

Mr. Shaw also spoke about the need for the planning process to be as efficient as possible, in order to improve the area's attractiveness to business.

High demand for service

The operators of HS1, Southeastern Trains, told the meeting that user numbers during the service's trial period had moved from 10,000 to 30,000 passengers a week. When the permanent timetable was introduced in mid-December the new trains had been completely reliable during the worst of the winter weather.

Challenge now to attract more business

There was universal agreement that HS1 has increased the opportunities to do business in London and beyond and that the time savings have improved business productivity and the quality of life for commuters. The meeting agreed that the challenge now was develop strategies and actions to attract more businesses to locate in East Kent and draw more leisure and business tourists. The Minister heard pleas for investment in some of the older parts of the rail infrastructure and that a new station at Manston airport would greatly improve access to HS1 in Thanet and strengthen Manston's appeal to airlines and passengers.

Among other issues raised at the meeting were East Kent as an ideal location for Civil Service jobs being moved out of London, the potential for East Kent to become a significant hub for the environmental and marine sectors, the importance of widening the range of further education courses to meet existing demand for skills training in the freight, marine and energy industries, the future prospects for Dungeness C and the case for maintaining research and development funding at universities. A number of businesses spoke about the heavy burden of regulation being a barrier to business growth.

ENDS

For further information contact: Marie Hamm

East Kent Local Strategic Partnership
Military Road, Canterbury, CT1 1YW
Tel: 01227 862358 | Fax: 01227 764955
marie@eastkentlsp.org.uk | www.eastkentlsp.org.uk

13 August 2009

East Kent goes high speed

The East Kent Local Strategic Partnership which represents local authorities, businesses and community groups in Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet has welcomed today's announcement from Southeastern Railway that high speed preview services are to be expanded to Canterbury West, Dover Priory, Folkestone Central, Folkestone West, and Ramsgate from 7 September 2009.

The four local authorities - Canterbury City Council, Dover District Council, Shepway District Council, and Thanet District Council - lobbied hard for the services to East Kent, which for many years has suffered from long journey times to the capital.

Geoff Miles, Chairman of the East Kent Local Strategic Partnership, said: "It is tremendous news that the high speed services are coming to East Kent two months ahead of the full launch in December. High speed train services are set to revolutionise the economy in East Kent.

Everyone in East Kent is working hard to maximise the opportunities which will come with better train services. We already enjoy unrivalled connections with Europe, and high speed train services to the capital will put East Kent firmly on the map for future economic development."

ENDS

Media enquiries: Charlie Vavasour, Quantum Public Relations, Tel: 01233 614525. 

Additional media articles about High Speed 1:

Kent Online - 21 January 2010

Financial Times - 13 December 2009

Kent Online - 15 September 2009

London Evening Standard - 24 August 2009 

Press release

25 September 2008

Partnership event sets clear direction for east Kent

Over 130 stakeholders from across east Kent attended the East Kent Local Strategic Partnership's (EKLSP) first stakeholder event to agree a strategic focus for the area to improve the quality of life for those living and working in east Kent.

The day's combination of speeches and workshops was held to determine the key priorities that the EKLSP will address in its first year. These include the area's capacity to become an energy powerhouse; the benefit of new transport links and High Speed Rail; future education, research potential and knowledge transfer; and a common sense of place for locals and visitors.

The conference, held at Dover Cruise Terminal, was attended by local MPs, councillors, chief executives and their private and voluntary sector partners. It was opened by EKLSP Chairman Stephen Kingsman who emphasised the importance of public and private sector joint working and the opportunity offered by an open and frank discussion of key problems and opportunities facing the area.

Kevin Charles, Community Affairs Manager for Pfizer, gave a keynote address on the potential offered by the proposed December 2009 introduction of high speed rail links in the region. Mr Charles stressed the unprecedented opportunity for development with journey times to London slashed to just over 60 minutes from Canterbury and Folkestone. He warned, however, that action must be taken now to make the most of this opportunity through forward planning, decisive action and joined up thinking.

Stephen Kingsman, Chairman EKLSP, said: "Today's conference was the first step in making our shared visions a reality for east Kent. By working in partnership we can maximise resources and provide an influential voice to secure the necessary community support, resources and political will to improve the quality of life in east Kent."

The Partnership will now work to develop a Sustainable Community Strategy and roll out a series of consultation documents, newsletters and member briefings to ensure that partners are kept involved and up to date on the latest developments.

ENDS

For more information, please contact Edel Mooney or Charlie Vavasour at DTW Vavasour Ltd on 01233 614 525 or email edel@dtwv.co.uk.

Tel: 01227 862358
Email: marie@eastkentlsp.org.uk