Culture Matters - Thanet District Council’s Cultural Strategy

The local context

The District of Thanet is a unique and vibrant coastal area, with 19 miles of nationally and internationally recognised coastline, with seven Blue Flag award winning beaches and bays, more than any other area in the country. These help to attract an estimated 2,500,000 visitors each year to Thanet, on either day trips or longer stays.

The population of the area is 127,688 and the vast majority live in the area’s three main towns, Broadstairs, Margate and Ramsgate. Thanet is classed as the 85^th most deprived district in England out of 354. Six wards in Thanet – Cliftonville West, Dane Valley, Eastcliff, Margate Central, Newington and Northwood contain areas that are amongst the 10% most deprived in the country.

The area has a much higher proportion of over 65 year olds than elsewhere in Kent and there are also a large proportion of young people in Thanet. Of the working age population, 39% are unable to work because of a long-term illness, as opposed to 28% in Kent as a whole.

The area’s proximity to mainland Europe means that it has a long history of visitors, from the arrival of Hengist and Horsa in 449AD on the sands of Broadstairs, who became the first Kings of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent.

The area began to develop into the place we know today in the early 18^th century, with the creation of a harbour in Ramsgate and the recognition of the power of the healing waters off the coast of Margate, which led to the town becoming the country’s first seaside resort. At around the same time, Broadstairs was attracting interest through Charles Dickens’ regular visits to the town.

Tourism grew rapidly from the mid 19^th century over the next 100 years, with the industry going into slow decline from the 1950’s onwards, due to foreign package holidays. The cumulative effect over many years had a considerable impact on Thanet’s economic position, with unemployment levels reaching a high of 18% in the early 1990’s.

Since then, work has been undertaken by the Council and its partners to regenerate the area, with a concentration on the area’s culture and heritage. In particular, this would focus on Margate, building on its links with Turner, and on revitalising Ramsgate’s maritime past with investment into the Royal Harbour Marina and town centre. This concentration on culture led to Margate being named amongst the top 20 most creative towns in the country and in the top 10 towns to watch in the future in 2007. Broadstairs fortunately escaped the worst of the area’s economic problems and continued to prosper. In recent years, the emphasis has been – and continues to be – on preserving the character of this popular seaside destination.

Next: Main consultation findings

Next: The cultural context

• What is culture?
• Why is culture important?
• Why produce a cultural strategy?
• Main consultation findings

Context

• Local context
• Cultural context

Vision

• Vision and Overarching Themes
• Underlying Principles
• Action Plan
• Evaluating delivery of the Cultural Strategy
• Cultural aspirations

• Appendix 1: Developing the strategy
• Appendix 2: Key Stakeholders - consultees