MONEY earmarked for improvements to Margate seafront has been diverted to the development of an Innovation Centre at Thanet Reach Business Park. As part of its £1.2 million investment in the centre, Thanet council has taken £100,000 from the £500,000 received from brewers Whitbread when it built The Promenade Hotel and restaurant next to the railway station.

The money was originally intended for a regeneration scheme near the Nayland Rock, the main promenade and the roundabout opposite the railway station.

Thanet council leader Cllr Richard Nicholson said this project will continue but a revised plan is being drawn up. Cllr Barry Coppock, cabinet member for regeneration, said that the money had been switched because “the creation of more opportunities for our young people must take priority.”

The Innovation Centre is being built on land next to the Christ Church College Thanet university campus at Westwood and it will cater for knowledge-based services and high-tech manufacturing.

Cllr Paul Rollins, cabinet member for economic development, said: “It will provide a platform for these sectors to grow and it will offer real long-term job opportunities. We see it as the place to foster entrepreneurial culture and to provide the impetus for economic and employment growth.”