Kent has failed in its bid to get Channel 4 to set up home in the county in a move which could have created up to 300 jobs.

The University of Kent, Chatham Historic Dockyard and Medway Council joined forces to submit a bid to the television station inviting it to set up one of three proposed regional creative hubs in the Medway Towns.

However, the option failed to secure a place on the shortlist of 13 locations, including Bristol, Belfast, Cardiff, Brighton and Stoke-on-Trent.

More than 30 submissions were received in this first round from across the UK.

These were reviewed and assessed by Channel 4 and a shortlist for the National HQ and Creative Hubs was agreed by chief executive Alex Mahon, chief commercial officer Jonathan Allan and the executive team.

Mr Allen said: “We’ve been incredibly impressed both by the number of pitches we received and by the high quality of the submissions – which has underlined the huge amount of creativity, innovation and talent right across the UK.

“However we have to move to a shortlist phase and, after careful consideration by the Channel 4 Executive team, we’ve selected 13 cities that are best able to meet our vision for our new hubs in the nations and regions.

"We look forward to visiting all those on the shortlist as part of our second phase, but we will also be continuing to work with all cities and regions as part of our strategy to increase investment and support creative businesses, jobs and growth across the UK.”

KMTV, the county's first dedicated television channel run by the KM Media Group and the University of Kent, is based at the campus in Chatham Maritime.

The shortlist included Bristol, Belfast, Cardiff, Brighton, Glasgow, Newcastle-Gateshead, Greater Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent and West Midlands.