Just imagine, for a moment, if the London Resort, Lower Thames Crossing and Manston Airport all not only got the go-ahead but actually started delivering on their promises.

The county would have two aspirational employment options and a dramatically improved transport link to anywhere north of the Thames.

And, while we’re on this flight of fancy, imagine the long-term benefits we would all experience if they proved a success.

Our local economy would be buoyed by the financial benefits all three, potentially, could bring; firms and people would relocate and that positive buzz could rejuvenate the county in a way last seen when the high-speed rail link opened for business.

Millions and millions of pounds would start flowing through Kent supply chains. Employment opportunities we had never conjured up would suddenly be within our reach. Business opportunities for the entrepreneur would be everywhere.

But. And, of course, in this scenario it is a gigantic, neon-lit, decorated with baubles but, what chance do we realistically have of any of them really happening?

The London Resort, it would not be unkind to say, has left the last chance saloon it was drinking in and has now caught a cab home, forgetting to tell everyone that it had left and wouldn’t be returning.

Manston Airport is still in the fight and so close to potentially happening it’s hard to discount it. But (there’s that word again) it’s been in that situation for years now. It last hosted anything other than a Covid testing site or lorry park back in 2014. Even the leader of the local council has given up hope.

And the Lower Thames Crossing has been 15 years in the planning and lives under an increasingly heavy cloud of doubt that it will ever actually be built courtesy of its ever-increasing price tag (it currently stands at an eye-watering £9 billion).

All three have strained the patience of a county which – broadly – welcomed their concepts with open arms. The bunting was strung over the streets, by many, with the promise of what they could become; hopes and dreams were ignited.

But, as is so often the case, that bunting started to lose its shine as the years passed and, for the most part, has now been taken down. All three claim they are still alive and kicking, but, combined, we’ve been waiting 37 years for any of them to actually burst into life.

Blame the planning process, blame the economy, blame the government, blame jumping spiders or even just that litigious woman in Ramsgate. Whatever the reason, we were sold a dream and have, so far at least, continued to slumber without hide nor hair of a rollercoaster, jumbo jet or toll booth heaving into view.

The real losers? All of us, of course.

Yes, all three bring would bring change and some disruption to those living nearby; especially in their lengthy construction stage. You might not like Disney-style theme parks or more toll roads or, for that matter, cargo planes soaring above your heads.

But they all brought the promise of prosperity to their respective parts of Kent and the county as a whole. Promised us jobs, a boost to our local economies, and genuine assets.

Regardless of if you lived under a flight path, or ran a business on the Swanscombe Peninsula, successful, popular money-making projects are quickly embraced and the agony of their creation forgotten. As anyone old enough to remember the defacing of Kent which occurred when the Channel Tunnel and accompanying rail link ploughed a route through the county.

And yes, the Lower Thames Crossing wouldn’t generate money for us, but it would mean plenty of us could find ourselves half way up the M25 in a fraction of the time. We’d probably forgive that too.

Instead we continue to watch all three schemes remain in an unbearable limbo. Unbearable, that is, until we all accept one out of three may be the very best we can hope for.

The question is which one – if any – will it be?