Thanet

Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974. The Isle of Thanet makes up the major part of the District.

The district, which is governed by Thanet District Council, is located on the north eastern tip of Kent, and is predominantly coastal, with north, east and southeast facing coastlines. It is bordered by the City of Canterbury district to the west, and the Dover district to the south. The main towns in the district are Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.

History
The Isle of Thanet is the major part of the Thanet District. Formed over 7000 years ago and separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it has always borne the brunt of invasions from the Continent. An Isle of Thanet Rural District had existed from the Local Government Act 1894 until it was abolished in 1935 to form part of Eastry Rural District. The current District was formed in 1974, by the addition of the area over which was once the Wantsum Channel, including the settlement of Sarre.

Governance
The current District is held by a Conservative majority, who hold 33 seats, compared to the 19 seats held by Labour, who are the second party.

There are two MPs for Thanet:
 * Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet,
 * Laura Sandys, Conservative MP for South Thanet.

The names of the civil parishes located in the district are:

Broadstairs and St Peter's form Broadstairs and St Peter's, served by a town council, which has no more than the powers of a parish council. A town council was created for Ramsgate in 2009.
 * Acol
 * Birchington
 * Cliffsend
 * Manston
 * Minster
 * Monkton
 * St Nicholas-at-Wade

The town of Margate is an unparished area: it has a charter maintained by charter trustees, having been a municipal borough before 1974.

Demography
In 2005 the estimated population of the District stood at 128,100.

List of People from Thanet

Economy
The whole district suffers from seasonal unemployment, in spite of its proximity to London, because of various factors, among them being inward migration; high numbers of old people; and low numbers of affluent people. It is not helped by poor overall indicators for Health. In a study of resilience to economic downturns, Thanet was poorly rated at 295th out of 324 districts. Unemployment levels are nearly twice the South East of England as a whole, and as a result a great deal of planning is being done to encourage more businesses to relocate to the District. The Thanet & East Kent Chamber produces a weekly business digest, the Thanet & East Kent Insider, which reports on economic activity in the private and public sectors.

New Projects underway include: A new community centre for Broadstairs. Redevelopment and renovations are to be undertaken at Margate's Dreamland (a Heritage Amusement Park); Cliftonville (Lido site); and a Holiday Inn (hotel) now open .A large retail and residential development on Ramsgate seafront is due to start construction in 2011. Royal sands as well and a multi million pound art gallery The Turner Contemporary (opened by Tracey Emin in April 2011) in Margate and massive investment and building works taking place in schools across the island.

In addition, the District Council has introduced an empty property initiative and has compulsory purchased empty and derelict buildings with the objective of bringing them back into use.

The Thanet Offshore Wind Project, near North Foreland, began operating in September 2010. The project is expected to have a total capacity of up to 300 MW which, on average, is sufficient to supply approximately 240,000 homes per year with green energy. The project will thus make a significant contribution to the Government’s national and regional renewable energy targets. Thanet Earth is the largest greenhouse development in the UK covering an area of 91 hectares with 7 greenhouses each the size of 10 football pitches producing cucumbers tomatoes and peppers all year.

Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs each have shopping centres with a mix of local and national retailers complemented by Northdown Road, Cliftonville, Westgate and Birchington. Westwood at the centre of Thanet has seen much major development in recent years with the building of Westwood Cross shopping centre which is the home of national retailers and several restaurant chains including a Travelodge hotel. Associated development has taken place around the shopping centre spawning other retail parks.

Transport
The rail connections are via the Chatham Main Line through Margate to Ramsgate, and the Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line. New high speed rail links from London to Thanet began in December 2009,and it is now possible to travel from Margate to St Pancras at an average speed of 60 miles per hour (about 96 km/h). This will form part of the UK's first true high-speed commuter service, according to the South Eastern Railway Company. Main road links are the A28 which brings traffic from Canterbury and Ashford; and the A299, north coast route. The Saxon Shore Way Long distance footpath skirts the coast.

There is an airport at Manston, formerly RAF Manston, but since renamed by its commercial operators as Kent International Airport. Because it was used as an U.S. airbase during the second world war, it has one of the longest runways in the UK, and is designated by the United Nations as an emergency landing site for aircraft in trouble.

Ferry services (predominantly freight and car with passengers) are operated by Transeuropa ferries to the Continent from Port of Ramsgate.

Health
Thanet has a large hospital: the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, known as the QEQM. Extension work which started in 2007 is still ongoing, as of 2010.

As of July 2010, overall indicators of health are poor for Thanet:
 * Health is worse in Thanet than in England on average
 * Life expectancy is lower than for England
 * There are health in equalities: in deprived areas life expectancy is 5 years lower for women and 10 years lower for men
 * Teenage pregnancies are high compared to the England average
 * Estimated smoking rates are average but death rates from smoking are higher significantly higher
 * Binge drinking is around the national average
 * Children are significantly less active than average
 * Significantly higher than average number of people admitted to hospital for alcohol-specific conditions
 * Significantly higher than average rate of diabetes
 * Significantly higher than average rate of mental health problems

Media
Local newspapers are the Thanet Extra, part of the KM Group; Isle of Thanet Gazette and Thanet Times (merged with Adscene October 2009), all owned by Northcliffe Media; and the midweek Your Thanet published online by KOS Media. The county wide newspapers Kent on Saturday and Kent on Sunday also serve the district.

Local radio stations are


 * KMFM Thanet (previously known as Thanet Local Radio) owned by the KM Group.(Most Programmes are networked with other KM Kent stations).
 * Community non commercial station Academy FM Thanet on 107.8FM and online and via mobile app it broadcasts from within The Marlowe Academy Ramsgate.
 * The county-wide Heart Kent,
 * BBC Radio Kent.

National TV stations carry regional news: The ITV1 service is provided currently by Meridian Broadcasting; and the BBC South East Today.

Thanet also has a local online radio and podcasting service currently operating online only known as 'Thanet Community Radio' (TCR). The station works closely with Dover based 'Dover Community Radio' (DCR) which operates in a similar way.

Education
Thanet College is a major provider of further education in East Kent and a Training Provider that works with local businesses to raise the level of education across the region.

Climate
Thanet enjoys a Maritime climate being surrounded on 3 sides by sea, which generally results in mild winters and warm dry summers.