THE county is lagging behind the rest of the region in job creation, according to Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, leader of Kent County Council. He launched a new drive to boost our "mosaic economy" by revealing that jobs growth in Kent and Medway has been slower than elsewhere in the south east.

He said that while Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire had seen employment growth of 20 per cent in the past five years, Kent had only managed 4.8 per cent. "We really need to get our act together," he told business and civic chiefs at a reception in Invicta House, Maidstone, to mark the launch of the new Kent Prospects five-year strategy.

"We've done well since 1996 but we haven't perhaps done as well as our neighbours," he said. It was an important time of change for Kent. It had so much going for it and he urged business to work with the public sector to boost what he called our "mosaic economy".

There was a mixed economic picture across the county and each area had different needs and priorities. That was why the council had coined the term "mosaic economy". Cllr Bruce-Lockhart said: "Kent Prospects recognises that we are a mosaic economy. We are a mosaic county, and the needs across the county are very different.

"Business should work with the council on key issues such as road and rail infrastructure, and large development projects such as those in North West Kent. I hope that a strong public-private sector partnership will take another step forward in Kent."

The new Kent Prospects for the period to 2006 identifies five key priorities: encouraging enterprise, improving transport and communications, boosting skills, protecting the environment and "reduce inequalities between the deprived and affluent areas of Kent". In his introduction to Kent Prospects, Cllr Alex King, KCC's Cabinet member for regeneration, wrote that since its first publication in 1996, significant advances had been made.

These included the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, development of the Thames Gateway, private/public sector partnerships including the Kent and Medway Economic Board, and action to tackle deprivation and unemployment in East Kent. "The emerging picture is of a county of contrast, prosperous in the west, less so in the north and east," he says.

"Rural communities need support if they are to provide the quality of life that is explicit in the image that we present as the Garden of England. Urban centres are in need of renewal if they are to contribute to the economic well being. Transport networks, road, rail and air, for passengers and freight need to deliver 21st century services to ensure that Kent remains a place where people want to live and work."