Being cool, it turns out, makes money.

Just ask designer Wayne Hemingway, the former Red or Dead fashion label boss, who unveiled his Reimagined Dreamland in Margate this month.

“You only have to look around the world and see what happens when you add art to an area,” he said as he unveiled his vintage-themed designs for the amusement park, which has lain dormant since it closed in 2006.

“Local government sees what’s going on and say ‘let’s add to that’.

“The best places in terms of regeneration are places which have fallen on their backsides and then been picked up by the young creative community who decided there is an opportunity there.”

A total of £18m has been pledged to the project from Thanet District Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the government’s Sea Change programme.

Just this week it was awarded another £1.89m grant for its Art Deco Cinema complex to be restored.

The Dreamland Trust, which is overseeing work to reopen the park next year, believes there will be about 150 people employed in peak season, with indirect employment bringing the total on site to about 200 jobs.

That success, according to Mr Hemingway, is thanks to a mixture of community support and the fact it is in the “right place at the right time”.

He compared Margate to regenerated cultural areas such as the Mitte district of Berlin, Hackney in east London and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York.

It seems he has a point, with fashion brands like Fred Perry launching a collection inspired by the town earlier this year. Vogue, the Daily Telegraph and the Observer have all done photoshoots there recently.

“There is something happening in east Kent,” said IoD Kent branch chairman Emma Liddiard, who launched the first East Kent Expo at the Mercure Hythe Imperial Hotel this month.

“My company used to sell all its advertising in the west but these days it is always the east which is sold out.”

Part of the reason for this has been long-term investment in the arts.

The Folkestone Triennial festival, which counts Yoko Ono as its flagship exhibitor this year, has been attracting creative businesses and people to the town since its first incarnation in 2008.

This has been driven by investment from the Creative Foundation, a charitable organisation set up in 2002 by Sir Roger De Haan, the philanthropist former owner of Saga.

“Our creative industries are booming in this county,” said Damian Collins, the MP for Folkestone and Hythe.

“East Kent has been undervalued as a business location for a long time.

“If you are coming to Folkestone, Margate or Dover, you see evidence of investment and regeneration and the local business community backing what is going on.

“That is what makes east Kent exciting. We could be one of the big winners of this period of economic growth. The fundamentals are there and it is being driven by fantastic creative local business activity.”

Being cool, however, is not enough. Although Manston airport was valued by the local community, the site was closed at a cost of nearly 150 jobs in May after its new owners deemed it to be unviable.

The site has since been sold to the owners of Discovery Park in Sandwich, Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave, who plan to build houses and work space there.

Despite inevitable opposition from those who want the airport reopened, their track record makes it hard to disagree with them. Discovery Park in Sandwich is close to welcoming its 100th tenant since taking over the former Pfizer facility two years ago.

Another potential success story in east Kent is the Port of Dover, which has secured £120m to invest in the first phase of its redevelopment of the Western Docks.

The plans, which will increase the port’s capacity for cargo ships, are expected to secure 140 existing jobs and create up to 600 more.

Head of port development Nigel Bodell said: “We think it’s a game changer.

“By providing this infrastructure we will provide a catalyst for further things to happen in and around Dover.

“We are putting our money where our mouth is and giving people the confidence to invest in Dover in future.

“Our customers and the community tell us this is what Dover needs to trigger something to happen.

“It is about creating a bigger picture for Dover to help regeneration and brighter business opportunities.”

“We have a supportive environment to allow business to spring up and develop,” said Duncan Cochrane-Dyet, partner at Maidstone and Canterbury-based accountants MacIntyre Hudson.

Yet he points out there are still factors which could trip up economic growth in east Kent, such as access to finance.

"We feel east Kent shows a great deal of potential in terms of growth...” - MacIntyre Hudson's Duncan Cochrane-Dyet

“We have seen the rise of crowd funding adding investment,” he said.

“The gap has been filled by the availability of grants in the area to local business. This is the driver of our future growth.

“Schemes like Expansion East Kent, Tiger, Escalate and Success offer access to interest-free loans through the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.

“An area we are not good at is building congregations of business in certain areas. We have it in Discovery Park, which is a great success. But we feel east Kent shows a great deal of potential in terms of growth.”

However, a lack of skills is a threat to regeneration, according to the principal of East Kent College.

Graham Razey was dismayed by research from the British Chambers of Commerce this month which said 90% of companies think school leavers are not ready for the world of work, with more than 50% thinking the same of graduates.

He called on businesses to link with training providers to develop the right kind of potential employees.

The college runs a welding apprenticeship which it launched with Cummins Power Generation when the company contacted them saying they had a shortage of skilled workers.

Mr Razey said: “Without the intervention from business those skills wouldn’t have been developed in the way business needs.

“Some people say they have not got time to do that but you can get your workforce ready made. You can get young people to add value to your business as they are training.

“There are so many benefits from that process. I agree that we need to do better but to sustain growth we need the skills and the only way to do that is by working together.”