From Brexit to the Thames Crossing, there are many big business stories set to grab our attention this year.

Work is due to begin this year on the second phase of the shopping centre. The 100,000sq ft expansion will add 38 shops, six restaurants and cafes and create 500 jobs. This will bring the total workforce to 1,500.

Brexit

The referendum on whether the UK will leave the European Union will dominate debate this year, with a vote pledged by the end of 2017. Kent’s position as a gateway to Europe has put many campaigners in the “stay” camp. It could be held as early as May this year.

Dover Western Docks

The Port of Dover has signed a contract with marine company Graham, which should lead to construction of its £120 million cargo terminal starting this year. It will be open by 2017.

Dreamland

The amusement park in Margate opened amid much fanfare last June but found itself in financial difficulties by December. Its owner Sands Heritage secured an agreement with its creditors to repay its £2.9 million debts over five years. Many commentators will be watching it closely this year, especially if visitor numbers are down in the summer.

Interest rates

The Bank of England faces growing pressure to raise interest rates from their historic low of 0.5%, where they have sat since March 2009.

Lower Thames Crossing

Campaigners will find out where a new tunnel or bridge linking Kent to the rest of the UK will be placed. The options are either next to the QEII bridge at Dartford or through marshland and woodland to the east of Gravesend. The Highways Agency reported to the Department for Transport late last year and there will be a full public consultation on the preferred option before any decision is made.

Lowfield Street, Dartford

Tesco campaigned for 11 years to gain planning permission to develop a supermarket and homes on the site. It gained approval in September 2013 but just two years later, after an accounting scandal and a decision to scale back its business, the supermarket sold the undeveloped land in the town centre to European real estate investment manager Meyer Bergman. The site is expected to become a mixture of 400 homes and commercial space.

Maidstone gyratory

Shops and pubs face a tricky year thanks to the £5.7 million work to build a new road designed to alleviate the town centre’s long-running traffic problems. The multimillion-pound revamp will build two lanes for drivers travelling towards Blue Bell Hill to avoid the bridge system, which is expected to shave 74 seconds off journey times and make driving through the town easier. However, the works have caused concern for businesses worried how trading will be affected while it is carried out from May until Christmas.

National Living Wage

From April, all workers aged 25 and over will be entitled to at least £7.20 an hour, prompting concerns from the rural, tourist and care sectors which rely on low paid staff. The government has pledged to raise the minimum wage to more than £9 an hour by 2020. The care industry particularly has raised concerns about higher staff costs forcing businesses to close.

Operation Stack solution

Two sites have been put forward as potential lorry parks in a bid to ease the decades of misery from Operation Stack. A consultation will run until Monday, January 25, on the options either west of Stanford, near Hythe, or using Junction 11 of the M20.

Paramount resort

The £3.2 billion tourist attraction’s developer, London Resort Company Holdings, is due to submit a planning application in the summer. It has already delayed the document twice, meaning the earliest the park will open is 2021. If approved, the developer would have the power to buy land needed with a Development Consent Order.

A special planning committee next month will re-examine Medway Council’s plans to redevelop the airport with a new runway and a technology business park, which it says will create 1,000 jobs. The council approved proposals for the site, which it owns, last February but the decision has since been called in for judicial review, which it has decided not to contest.