An informal networking group, pulling together a number of the county’s inward investment agencies, has been established.

Going under the name Promoting Kent, the group aims to ensure a more co-ordinated approach to the county’s growth.

Among those involved are Locate in Kent, Visit Kent, Produced in Kent and the Kent Film Office.

Attended by senior executives and marketing chiefs, the group is looking to “ensure maximum efficiencies” and getting “best value”.

Also attending the informal round-table discussions are Explore Kent, transport groups the Kent Community Rail Partnership and Kent Connected, and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The group aims to meet every three months and has the support of both Kent County Council and Medway Council.

Hollie Coffey, destinations and marketing partnerships director at Visit Kent, explained: “It just gives us an open forum to discuss and join the dots which wasn’t always happening before. It ensures a joined up message and we’re all supporting each other’s initiatives.

“It means we can deliver a better message that Kent is a great place to visit, live and work.

“We started by trying to find some quick wins - aligning messages, supporting each other’s campaigns, identifying funding opportunities we could go in for together, how we could engage with each other’s networks and stakeholders.

“So when we go out to meet people we can refer them to the other services.”
Among projects being tackled are the lack of hotel rooms in the county.

“We at Visit Kent,” explains Misss Coffey, “feel we need more investment in hotels to grow value of visitor economy and with our expertise on demand and Locate in Kent’s knowledge of developers and investors we can address the issue together. It’s about putting heads together to put together a strategy to resolve a long-standing issue.”

A similar approach is being taken when it comes to hosting conferences and events in the county.

Remarkably, prior to the setting up of Promoting Kent, there was no mechanism in place to co-ordinate the actions of the various agencies which all work in order to boost business in the county.

But with funding becoming more of an issue, the decision was taken to provide a platform for them to come together.

While not operating or set up as a separate entity - it prefers to be a more informal network - it has no plans for money to be spent on it. Although future joint efforts are not ruled out.

It means we can deliver a better message that Kent is a great place to visit, live and work.

As Miss Coffey explains: “The key thing is just to making sure people and talking to each other.

“Out of it there may be some projects we all decide to jointly fund.”

The group is open to other agencies or organisations and meets every three months.