KIM Howells, the Government Minister for Tourism, is to visit Sheppey on Monday, January 6. He will join local MP Derek Wyatt to research the feasibility of a Wetland Safari Park at Elmley.

Mr Howells, a former higher education lecturer, recently hit the national headlines when he poured scorn on exhibits for the Turner Prize for Art.

Mr Wyatt hopes that a Wetland Safari Park from Elmley to Harty could become a major tourist attraction for Sheppey after the second bridge linking the Island with the mainland is completed in 2006. The Minister will meet stakeholders, in particular farmer Philip Merricks, who leases part of Elmley to the RSPB.

It is hoped that the afternoon will lead to the setting up of a feasibility working party with funding from SEEDA, the South East England Development Agency.