Financial incentives and a £200,000 promotional campaign have sparked a steep rise in inquiries from firms interested in creating jobs in East Kent.

For the first time, the area is matching Thames Gateway as the Kent location with most business interest, according to Locate in Kent (LiK), the county’s inward investment agency.

By the end of December, 147 investment projects had registered an interest in East Kent, compared to 149 for Thames Gateway, 143 in Shepway, Ashford and Maidstone and 90 in West Kent.

Kent County Council’s £200,000 Grow for It in East Kent campaign, involving posters, bus banners and slogans across London created by the Seven Hills agency, is thought to be partly responsible for the upsurge.

This has been coupled with high-speed trains and financial incentives for growing enterprises flowing from Enterprise Zone status and Expansion East Kent, which distributes interest-free loans from £35 million of regional growth funding.

Discovery Park, the former Pfizer site at Sandwich, is now home to more than 1,000 jobs, including several hundred retained by Pfizer. It is proving an attractive business location with its world-class facilities for life science and investors.

LiK chief executive Paul Wookey (below) said: “There’s been a marked increase in interest in East Kent, which has seen it rise from a third of inquiries (32%) in October 2011, and it suggests business is increasingly viewing the area as being as attractive as the Thames Gateway.”

He added: “We anticipate East Kent will continue to welcome greater levels of investment, in particular from those businesses involved in life sciences, creative and digital media, low carbon technologies and tourism.”

So far, Expansion East Kent has distributed nearly £6m to 21 businesses planning to create more than 500 jobs, with a further £10m and an estimated 800 jobs in the pipeline. It aims to create 5,000 new jobs, and unlock a further £300m of private sector investment over the next few years.

Meanwhile, job creation in East Kent is to be speeded up by a simplified planning process. Following Government clearance, Dover council has adopted a Discovery Park Enterprise Zone Local Development Order as a way of stimulating investment and growth.