Agenda item

(Report by Mr M Dance, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development and Ms B Cooper, Director Economic Development)

1.               The Economic Strategy and Policy Manager, Mr Ross Gill, introduced the report. Members made comments and ask questions. The points raised included:

a)              The local Member, for Romney Marsh, Mrs Waters, made comments as follows:

Ø     Referring to paragraph 1.1 of the report advising that there were ancillary buildings on Dungeness A that could be used.

Ø     Dungeness B closure was looking to be extended by license by 20 years.

Ø     Referring to paragraph 1.4 of the report advised that the loss of jobs etc with Dungeness was worth £40 million to the Romney Marsh economy.

Ø     Mrs Waters advised that Romney Resource Centre undertook skilling people up and training.

Ø     Good work had been undertaken to secure a bid from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for Romney Marsh, as historically most funding was allocated to Northern areas of England.

Ø     Mrs Waters advised that a public meeting had been held in Romney Marsh which concluded that the area was diverse, reliant on the town of New Romney, there was a low economy base, no major employer and the area suffered low aspiration.  This had resulted in a Task Force being set up, subject to Shepway District Council’s ratification.  There will be 10 Champions, one for each project area, to include; Young People, identifying and promoting quality of life and Transport.

Ø     Mrs Waters sought support from KCC, the local District Council and the Managers of Dungeness A and B, with funding and data.

a)              Members of the Committee gave their support for the work being undertaken by Mrs Waters and the Romney Marsh Task Force.

b)              There was an opinion that there needed to be a focus on the local airport.

c)               It was considered that there needed to be a better bus service from Romney Marsh to Ashford to improve employment prospects.

d)              Members congratulated Mrs Waters on the Task Force and the work they would be undertaking

e)              A Member suggested that locally produced food, tourism and history in the Romney Marsh area should be promoted and suggested through Produced in Kent and Visit Kent.

f)                The following suggestions were made; (1) There may be an issue with trying to keep the high skilled jobs in the area following the closure of Dungeness A and B.  (2) For Lydd Airport to be developed there needed to be a high speed rail link.  (3) The future for Romney Marsh needed to be thought of on a larger scale such as locating a Post Graduate Institution there.  A local Member for Shepway advised that the land was unsuitable to build on.

g)              A suggestion was made that the Shepway Development Framework may include proposals on employment which could be the route to gain funding from central government.

h)               It was advised that Shepway District Council was waiting for the Lydd Airport expansion to be approved by the Secretary of State.  If approved this would necessitate the road infrastructure being developed.  It was anticipated that the report on the airport would be available by August this year.

i)                 A request was made for a “spider” diagram of the issues involving Romney Marsh to be circulated to Members.

2.               In response, Mr Dance gave his support to the work being undertaken by Mrs Waters and the Romney Marsh Task Force.  He offered KCC’s plethora of data that may assist their cause.  Mr Dance concurred with the view of a bigger plan for the area as this would act as a trigger for necessary funding.  The issue would be monitored by this Cabinet Committee.

3.               RESOLVED that the responses given to the comments and questions made by Members and the report be noted, with thanks.