By Will Scobie
I have just come back from a talk with the Chief Executive designate Sue McGonigal in the Council Chambers over the state of Thanet. During the talk several very worrying facts were brought up.
Thanet compared to the rest of Kent has:
- Lowest percentage of people working.
- The biggest percentage of retired people (by 2026 it is expected that proportion of retired people will rise from 33% to 44 %!).
- The lowest life expectancy ( recent report by the NHS in Thanet said that life expectancy is 5 years less for women, and 10 years less for men).
- The lowest available jobs.
- Highest level of jobseekers.
- The most amount of special needs children.
- High levels of part time and low income workers.
- 6.9% of 16-18 years olds are out of school or unemployed compared to 4.1% elsewhere in Kent.
- Is bottom of the deprivation tables in the South East.
All of these different factors come together to form a deadly cocktail which will be exacerbated by huge cuts from Central Government. Transitional grants will help, but at the end of the day the question needs to be asked; why did Thanet have this money in the first place? The answer is because we have a huge amount of needy people and very few jobs. If the Central Government takes away the money then for many that leaves nothing. These are problems that I feel we all need to work together to deal with. The electorate have spoken to us and they have decided that they want all 3 groups to talk to one another. Now it is time for us to listen...
