With the high speed route now in operation, the Channel Tunnel rail link is helping to transform the Kent economy. The county has always been well placed to serve not only the massive market of the Greater London area but also Europe. However, the opening of the High Speed network has enhanced the county’s position as a major centre for UK exporters and international logistics. And according to Paul Wookey, chief executive of Locate in Kent, the importance of the rail link will grow over time. “As the high speed network expands, Kent will have a fast link to a huge area of Mainland Europe,” he says.
Equally important, Kent is a county surrounded on three sides by water and with a number of major ports within its borders it is ideally suited to the needs of importers and exporters. A case in point is Vee Tee Rice, a company set up in the county by entrepreneur Moni Varma, the company’s chairman and MD. “We needed a waterside location so we settled on the Medway area,” he says. Today, the company imports rice and exports ready means to Europe, Africa and North America.
Latterly the Kent economy has been boosted by government plans for the Thames Gateway, a massive residential and commercial development stretching along the North and South shores of the Thames Estuary. It’s already brought jobs to the area and new people to the county, with all the associated business opportunities. However, Wookey stresses that high profile channel tunnel and Thames Gateway projects shouldn’t obscure the appeal of those parts of the county that are not directly affected. “It is a big county and companies coming in have a range of choices in terms of finding premises and location that suits them,” he says, adding that operating from Kent can be provide a much more cost-effective option than setting up in neighbouring regions. “Premises and wages costs tend to be cheaper here than in London or other parts of the South East,” he says.
Kent is a very diverse county in terms of its industrial base, but is particularly strong in at least four areas – namely manufacturing, pharmaceuticals finance and latterly, renewable energy. Nevertheless, as Wookey acknowledges, it isn’t always easy for companies to attract the right range of skills and so one of the priorities of Locate in Kent is to encourage local people to not only live in the county but also work there, rather than being sucked in to the London labour market.
Locate in Kent was set up 10 years ago with the primary goal of attracting new jobs to the Kent area and to date it has helped more than 500 companies move into the area, 56 of them this year. According to Wookey, the aim is to provide a one stop shop to businesses that are considering moving to the area. “We work with companies to understand their needs and their business drivers,” he says.
It’s a service that can play an important part in ensuring that businesses choose the area. For instance, when Moni Varma made a decision to add a ready meal business to its existing rice import operation, he considered locations elsewhere in the UK for his second factory, including areas where there would have been grant finance available. “In the end we decided stay in Kent because people knew us here. And Locate in Kent helped us find the property we needed,” he says.