Energy Minister, Michael Fallon, says the Discovery Park is ‘one of the most successful enterprise zones in the country.’

The Minister of State for Business and Energy visited the site on Ramsgate Road on Friday which now has over 60 businesses.

Mr Fallon said: “Discovery Park is one of the largest business parks in Europe and of huge importance to the local economy.

“The Government has worked closely with the private sector and local representatives to help ensure its success for the future.

“The site is recovering strongly from the fragile position it faced in 2011 and is now one of the most successful enterprise zones in the country. I’m extremely encouraged that there are now 60 companies on site providing around 1,400 jobs. But the hard work isn’t yet done – the ambition is to create 3,000 jobs here by 2017.”

MP for Sandwich and South Thanet, Laura Sandys welcomed the minister.

She added: “It was great to be able to show the minister around Discovery Park, an enterprise zone that in just over a year has attracted 55 very exciting companies from all over the world. We visited Augean’s waste recovery facility which provides incineration at high temperatures coupled with energy recovery before meeting with CleanTec, a growing manufacturer of ecological cleaning products supplying one of the country’s largest supermarkets.

“The support we have secured has been absolutely invaluable in saving the site and literally hundreds of jobs so I was very pleased that the minister had the opportunity to see its success firsthand. Discovery Park has achieved a huge amount in 2013 alone and I am certain that we will have lots more positive news to celebrate over the coming year.”