South Thanet is in East Kent and includes the towns of Broadstairs, Ramsgate, and Sandwich, and a
number of villages of varying size including Minster, Ash and Wingham.
The largest employer is Pfizer but other large employers include Sericol and Kent International
Airport which is owned by Infratil.
About 22% of South Thanet's population are retired. Claimant unemployment is just under 5% and
Labour Market Slack is around 21%.
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.
A large part of the constituency receives support from the European Union via Objective II funding
and support to industry from the UK Government because it is has tier 2 Assisted Area Status. The UK Government also gave about £10million through the Single Regeneration Budget to the
area.
The main road to London is now of a very high standard although some local improvements (known as
East Kent Access phase 2) on the outskirts of Ramsgate are needed to complete the project.
The rail journey from Ramsgate to London Victoria takes about 1hr 45minutes off peak, (2hrs at
rush hour) and improving the rail-line and service is one of the Labour Party's highest priority campaign issues. When the CTRL Domestic high speed service starts at the end of 2009
the rush hour journey time will reduce to 1hr 25minutes to St.Pancras but we think they could even do better than that.
| 
