About South Thanet

South Thanet is in East Kent and includes the towns of Broadstairs, Cliftonville, Ramsgate, and Sandwich, and a number of villages of varying size including Ash and Wingham.

The largest employer was Pfizer but they are closing their plant in Sandwich with the loss of 3000 jobs - a real blow to the area.

Other significant employers include Sericol, SAGA, Thorley Taverns and Manston Airport, which is owned by Infratil.

About 22% of South Thanet's population are retired.

80% of South Thanet is in the Thanet District Council area and 20% in the Dover District Council area. The whole constituency falls within Kent County Council.

The Conservative-led Government have recently withdrawn much of the assisted area funding.

The main road to London is now of a very high standard although some local improvements (known as East Kent Access) on the outskirts of Ramsgate are needed to complete the project. These improvements are already underway and the remaining work will be finished by 2012.

Infratil now operates Manston Airport currently providing a largely freight service. Some limited passenger/holiday services began in May 2006.

The rail journey time to London is now about 1hr 16min to St Pancras but there are also slower services to Victoria and other London destinations as well as local services.

Check the following pages for further information:

Labour’s delivery record in South Thanet

The political situation in South Thanet