Annex A
CASE STUDY: CHATHAM MARITIME
SEEDA Written Evidence to the South East
England Regional Select Committee Inquiry into the South East
England Development Agency and the Regional Economic Strategy
1. Chatham has become Kent's premier business
location, employing around 5,000 people through various sectors,
including universities and the leisure industry, as well as a
growing number of large organisations that have chosen to base
themselves there. The vision for Chatham was to create a new community
in which people could live, work, study and enjoy their leisure
time, building on its illustrious history and heritage, and the
spectacular river views to be found there. SEEDA's Chatham Maritime
Programme sought to deliver this vision.
2. SEEDA has been the custodian of Chatham Maritime
for the past 10 years. SEEDA has invested £150 million of
public sector funding into Chatham Maritime and brought a further
£700m from the private sector. With our partners, we have
built 1,000 new homes and a million square feet of new office
space.
3. Following the closure of the Chatham
Dockyard by the Royal Navy with the loss of 7,000 jobs, SEEDA
proposed that higher education play an important part in securing
the vibrant mixed use regeneration of Chatham Maritime and transforming
the economy of the Medway.
4. SEEDA encouraged the Universities of
Greenwich and Kent and Mid Kent College to work together and bring
in other academic and non-academic partners to create a substantial
multiversity (various universities) campus at Chatham, enabling
institutions to share resources and avoid duplication. SEEDA provided
£8.6 million of investment which helped leverage a further
£42 million funding package from seven other partners. SEEDA's
involvement with the scheme has helped to promote the development
of a major new university campus in the South East that will have
long-term skills benefit for local employers and encourage growth
in local businesses. At the end of the academic year 2006-07 264
gross new FTE Jobs have been created directly from the project
and 2,019 gross additional FTE students have registered at the
new campus, with outputs ahead of forecast.
5. The Universities at Medway scheme has
helped plug serious skills shortages in the South East, particularly
the University of Greenwich's School of Pharmacy, which is addressing
a shortage of pharmacists across the region. The Scheme now boasts
10,000 students. Chatham Maritime boasts a Primary School on St.
Mary's Island and a successful day nursery. Creation of the Multiversity
has enabled many students to live at home while studying for their
qualifications.
6. Going forward, a further 700 new homes
will be built on St Mary's Island and the two parts of the old
dockyard will be reunited with the redevelopment of the land between
the Historic Dockyard and Chatham Maritime.
7. The new business district provides 120,000
square metres of high-quality employment space, including smaller
units, ideal for start-up businesses and creative industries that
will grow out of the universities.
| 
