SOUTH East England Development Agency chairman Jim Braithwaite has visited Thanet to see how regeneration funding is helping the area.

During his tour, he took in Ramsgate's harbour, the EuroKent business park at Westwood and Margate with the council leader, Cllr Sandy Ezekiel, and its chief executive, Richard Samuel.

Cllr Ezekiel said: "Jim Brathwaite's visit gave us the opportunity to demonstrate the potential development prospects in Thanet.

"In Ramsgate, our focus is concentrating on the boulevard site on the seafront, the port area and we are reviewing the 'renaissance plan' that covers both areas of the town.

"In Margate, we have the opportunities presented by the proposed creation of the Turner Centre at the harbour and the redevelopment of the old town and Dreamland amusement park."

*SEEDA was established by the government in April 1999 to take the strategic lead in promoting the sustainable economic development of the region.

In the first two years of operation, SEEDA invested £150 million in urban and rural regeneration schemes. SEEDA covers the county and unitary authority areas within the South East region -- Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex.