Kent Science Park drops regeneration plans

The Kent Science Park drops plans to build a bio-accelerator unit which would have provided accommodation for 44 businesses after failing to negotiate a government handout.

Hailed at the time by site director Nick Sharpe as offering huge potential for both UK and international scientific companies looking for the right location and vital for providing high quality cost effective premises. It was also intended to provide an important link with the bio-hatchery based at the Canterbury Enterprise Hub.

An article published in issue 4 of their own in-house newsletter ‘Nucleus’ titled ‘Sittingbourne Secures £1.3 million grant’ explained how the park had secured funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). This was in fact completely untrue and based on the assumption that their application for funding would be successful.

Andy Hudson of the Five Parishes Opposition Group says “I think that it’s quite right that tax payers’ money was not used for this type of project as this is a purely commercial concern that would have netted the owners a significant financial reward. However if the Science Park were at all serious about investing in the site and creating employment opportunities for Swale they would not have pulled the plug. It’s quite an odd move for an organisation that constantly harps on about a lack of accommodation and the need to expand.”

“This was supposed to be their flagship regeneration project for which they received a great deal of publicity and even has full planning permission. I find it quite disconcerting that they engineered a huge publicity campaign on the back of completing an application form, but I’m not entirely surprised as much of their media coverage is pure spin. To quietly drop the project and hope that no one noticed is the clearest sign yet of what we should come to expect of them.”

“Instead they are now proposing to lease the building to Sittingbourne Enterprise Hub to provide the Kent Science Resource Centre which is yet another publicly funded venture to bring training facilities to the park.”

“While I can see the merits in establishing such a facility, this is exactly the type of facility that’s already been promised by the Science Park as part of their overall expansion plans, however it seems that now they are only interested if someone else is footing the bill.”