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The Discovery Park in Sandwich welcomed the minister for communities yesterday who visited the park to see how the government’s £6.5 million will be spent.

The funding is part of a £100 million scheme to boost ten enterprise zones around the country.

The visit allowed minister for communities, Stephen Williams, to see the successful work at the park so far.

He said: “I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve seen and obviously the money is going to be well spent bringing these facilities back into use.”

The money will go towards refurbishing three empty buildings so that more companies and particularly large overseas companies will hopefully sign up to the park.

Mr Williams added: “I understand that there are several thousand people already working on the site and lots of new businesses coming on.

"I believe there are ambitious plans for it to be a more holistic business park with new housing for some key workers and a retail offer as well to make it not only an innovative place to work and a community of like-minded scientists but also an attractive place to work in terms of shops and homes and everything nearby.

“From what the managers at the site have told me, the facilities they already have are fully let and they have other people who are interested in coming on site so hopefully the government money will unlock that potential for the businesses to come in.”

Paul Barber, managing director at Discovery Park, explained his delight at being given the funding.

He said: “We’re hoping it’s going to accelerate the success we’ve already had. In eighteen months we’ve moved from five companies to 68 and in very difficult trading times so we’re very pleased with the progress."

For the full story on funding, rail links and investors at the Discovery Park read next week's East Kent Mercury.