by business editor Trevor Sturgess

A £40 million bid aims to help firms create thousands of jobs in East Kent.

With the Open Championship - despite the absence of Tiger Woods - promising an £80m boost to East Kent, a new Regional Growth Fund cash bid has been sent to the Government.

If successful, the money would encourage businesses to support 500 growing businesses, create 5,000 jobs, and attract more than £300m of private sector investment.

The money would be available to growing firms already based in East Kent with potential to grow, and others that wish to move to the area.

A spokesman for Kent County Council said the bid complemented the earlier bid by the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for enterprise zone status at the Pfizer site and help revive East Kent after the drugs giant pulls out next year.

Meanwhile, the decision to give priority to Pfizer site zone has been criticised by John Burden, leader of Gravesham council.

He claimed the LEP for Kent, Essex and East Sussex should have ruled in favour of Ebbsfleet Valley, an area long designated for housing and commercial growth.

Development has stalled during the recent downturn, although there are plans to resume building in Eastern Quarry.

KCC said the LEP decision did not mean Ebbsfleet had been sidelined. It's time would come again.

"Over the years, we've been committed to the Thames Gateway region and that's not changed," he said. "It's a massive area for growth.

More in Kent Business, out this week with most paid-for copies of KM Group newspapers.