The Kent and Medway Economic Partnership (KMEP) is the economic partnership for Kent and Medway which aims to drive forward economic growth and prosperity throughout the region.
It was set up in 2013 to act as the Kent and Medway ‘building block’ of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership.
The KMEP is governed by a Partnership Board made up of representatives from businesses, education and local authorities.
The Kent and Medway Economic Partnership Board is chaired by the private sector and is made up of twenty one members, eleven business representatives, eight local authority leaders and one representative from higher and further education. The board has sought to ensure that there is a balanced representation of businesses and local authorities, reflecting Kent and Medway’s geography and the diversity of its business base.
The role of the KMEP can be summarised as being to:-
• Approve, drive forward and monitor a strategic economic plan for Kent and Medway;
• Consider strategic economic investment priorities through funds such as the Single Local Growth Fund, European structural and investment funds and other public funding sources that may become available;
• Determine and monitor the use of all funding devolved from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership to Kent and Medway;
• Act as the commissioning body for projects and programmes in Kent and Medway funded through the Single Local Growth Fund and the European Structural and Investment Funds;
• Consider and develop responses to new economic opportunities and challenges in Kent and Medway;
• Ensure a strong voice for Kent and Medway business and government at national and regional level, including through the South East LEP.
The Kent and Medway Economic Partnership will be responsible for the delivery of the objectives set out in Kent and Medway’s Growth Plan ‘Unlocking the Potential: Going for Growth’. The Growth Deal sets out the actions that businesses and local authorities in Kent and Medway, together with the South East LEP and central Government will take to drive forward delivery. It sets out the case for Local Growth Fund investment in Kent and Medway as part of an intelligent funding package, alongside the new European structural fund programme, existing Regional Growth Funds, developer contributions and local authority funds. The Growth Plan, as part of the Strategic Economic Plan, was submitted to the government at the end of March 2014. It is anticipated that the government will announce its decisions about funding in July 2014.
Membership
Local Authority Leaders
Gary Cooke
Leader Kent County
Council
Rodney
Chambers
Leader Medway
Council
Jeremy
Kite
Dartford &
Gravesham (alternate
John Burden)
Paul Watkins
Dover & Thanet (alternate
Clive Hart)
David Jukes
Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells
(alternate
Christopher Garland)
Peter
Fleming
Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Malling
(alternate
Nicolas Heslop)
David Monk
Shepway & Ashford (alternate
Gerry
Clarkson)
Andrew
Bowles
Swale &
Canterbury (alternate
John Gilbey)
Business
Geoff Miles CHAIRMAN
Managing Director, Maidstone Studios
Vince Lucas
Managing Director, V A Consultancy Ltd
Graham Brown
Chairman, Denne & Director, Bouygues
Douglas Horner
Director, Trenport Investments Ltd
& Member- CBI South East Council
Jo James
Chief Executive, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce (KICC)
Jon Regan
Director & Chairman, Hugh Lowe Farms Ltd & Weald Granary
Ltd
Paul Winter
UK Managing Director, Wire Belt Company Ltd
Miranda Chapman
Director, Pillory Barn Design Ltd
Eliot Forster
Chief Executive Officer, Creabilis
SA
Roger House
Chief Executive Officer, The Centre for Micro Business &
Regional Chairman Federation of Small Businesses Kent &
Medway
Andrew Metcalf
Director, Maxim PR
Nick Sandford
Chairman, Kent Country Land & Business Association
Paul Gardner
Managing Director, Component Force
Higher Education (HE)
Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow
Vice Chancellor, University of Kent
Further Education (FE)
Graham Razey
Principal, East Kent College
Visit the KMEP website http://kmep.org.uk/home