Government urged to back Kent high-growth firms
Maidstone should be part of a “brain belt” of hi-tech support industries around London.
That is the view of Gary Watson, of JLL, property agents and advisers to Maidstone’s Kent Medical Campus.
He has called on the government to back Kent with cash, arguing the county could help deliver a globally important medical and healthcare tech-corridor stretching all the way from Kent to Cambridge.
His call comes after the Chancellor announced in his autumn statement there would be an additional £ 2bn to support research and development, and £1.3bn for road infrastructure.
Mr Watson said: “The government recognises we need to reduce the productivity gap with our global competitors.
“Investment in infrastructure and R&D funding support for high-growth companies can help achieve that, as will the Enterprise Zone status recently granted to places such as Kent Medical Campus.
“Kent has a major role to play as part of a brain belt circling London and mustn’t be overlooked.”
Kent Medical Campus will become officially a government enterprise zone in April 2017, which will give financial incentives to businesses moving into the site.
Roads around the campus, in Bearsted Road, will be improved with a £1.5m planned spend, but it’s hoped a bid by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, backed by Maidstone Borough Council, will prove successful in grabbing a slice of the government’s £683m local growth fund to further improve access from the M20 at Junction 7.
Kent Medical Campus has a planning application lodged with Maidstone council seek- ing permission to build hospital clinics, consultation rooms and a rehabilitation centre, education and training facilities with residential accommodation; accommodation for nurses and doctors, pathology laboratories and a 116bed neuro-rehabilitation unit. It estimates the campus, next to KIMS private hospital, will create 4,000 jobs.