MORE than 50 business leaders have met to hear of plans to regenerate Shepway. At the Hythe Imperial Hotel speakers from Shepway District Council and Kent County Council told how they are spearheading a drive to secure £25 million in government funding for better public services for the people of Kent.

To gain the money the two councils have set regeneration targets for Shepway over the next four years. These include reducing truancy, teenage pregnancy and the number of children in care, reducing town centre crime and improving GCSE performance as well as boosting the local economy and achieving environmental targets.

The business breakfast meeting follows the Shepway launch of the Kent Agreement last November at the Grand Hotel in Folkestone which was attended by 120 people from various organisations. Other local authorities in the county have also signed up to the agreement.

Leader of KCC Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said: "The work in Shepway is the most important and challenging that we are engaged in. For it to succeed we must have the continuous support of our partners and, of course, the backing of local business."

Rory Love, leader of Shepway council, said he was pleased with the turn out. He said: "With this high level of business support we are well placed to meet our future regeneration targets and continue the rapid and impressive fall in unemployment we have achieved over the last two years, as we improve the skills base of Shepway's workforce."