The creative industries are an increasingly important part of our
local economy; and this is not just the work of artists but film
makers, web designers, restaurateurs, marketeers and many others. The
Creative Quarter in Folkestone employs 280 people across all of the
businesses based there, which taken together makes it one of the
District’s larger employers. This number does not include people
working in the other vibrant creative businesses in the town. We are
starting to see the benefit of this investment and the number of
visitors to the area around Folkestone harbour is growing. In the last
two years for example, over 41,100 people have attended events at the
Quarterhouse in Tontine Street.
As we get closer to the launch of this summer’s Folkestone Triennial
Arts Festival, we can see the continued investment from the creative
sector in our community. The 2008 Triennial brought an estimated
100,000 visitors to the town and if that record is surpassed this
summer it will be good for business all round. This should complement
the additional visitors that will come to East Kent for The Open golf
at Sandwich in July and of course for the London Olympics next year.
Creative people and businesses have long been attracted to our area,
from writers like HG Wells to film makers like Derek Jarman; drawn by
the varying attractions of Sandgate, and Dungeness. The location of
the wartime Oscar winning film ‘Mrs Miniver’ was based on Elham, and
at our recent Conservative Association dinner the TV presenter, writer
and ‘masterchef’ Loyd Grossman described how he enjoys visiting
Dymchurch and Romney Marsh because of his love of the ‘Dr Syn’
stories. So whilst the attractions are clear, for our area to become a
hub for the growing creative economy we need to make sure that we have
the right infrastructure to support businesses and high speed
broadband is vital to this.
This week Shepway District Council is holding two public meetings to
ask residents for their views on the quality of the broadband network.
There is also a consultation survey which can be obtained from the
council. From the research that has been conducted so far, and from
feedback I have received from people, there are clearly areas where
the service needs to be improved; in particular in the North Downs, on
Romney Marsh, Lydd and along the coast at Greatstone. The purpose of
the council’s consultation is to prepare a submission to the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport for financial support to
improve the broadband service in areas like this. The Government has
committed to invest £50 million in further pilot projects to improve
broadband in rural communities as part of an £830 million strategy to
make sure the UK has the best broadband network in Europe by 2015. In
addition to this, last week Kent County Council announced a £1.5
million Superfast Broadband Pilot Fund to help rural communities;
including community groups and parish councils. The Government is also
considering how it can make it easier for some of the leading
broadband providers to improve access to their services, perhaps by
removing unnecessary and restrictive regulations. I will certainly do
all I can to help us benefit from these initiatives.