The East Kent Engineering Partnership was established in June 2007 bringing together the five East Kent Coastal Authorities; Canterbury, Dover, Shepway, Swale and Thanet.
The government has recognised the requirement for closer working between local authorities, ensuring a robust identification, implementation and long term management of flood and coastal erosion risk management works. The forming of partnerships facilitates this process. It was also agreed that as the partnership develops and evolves the opportunity for the integration of non-coastal engineering work and schemes should also be progressed.
A Memorandum of Understanding was later agreed and signed by the partner Chief Executives setting out the aims and working arrangements of the partnership.
Partnership working between Local Authorities and the Environment Agency has been increasing over the years, particularly through such organisations as the South East Coastal Group. Projects such as Shoreline Management Plans, Strategy Studies and the Strategic Regional Coastal Monitoring have highlighted the benefits of closer working arrangements. This has allowed for greater input by the Local Authority staff and in many cases the LAs carrying out all or part of the project themselves utilising their great depth of local knowledge. Where there are adjoining frontages that both require attention, there can be significant savings in time, cost and disruption if the projects are run as a joint scheme. In the past, such as at Reculver, the Agency and the LA have worked together on combined projects with, in some cases, the LA taking the lead and running the contract. This has resulted in works that have been very well received by the public as well as reducing costs, particularly fees.
Our staff:
Staff within the partnership has a wide range of expertise and many years of experience working in the civil engineering environment both in the public & private sector. This includes delivery of construction projects such as drainage, coast protection, contaminated land remediation, flood alleviation, highways, amenities and landscaping. Our staff are;
•Experienced and dedicated,
•Professionally qualified,
•Quality and safety conscious,
•Seeking to maintain good relationships with our clients, both internal and external.
Our Aims:
•To deliver a combined programme of grant aided capital works,
•To produce well informed and comprehensive Medium Term Plan submissions to the Environment Agency,
•To seek and share opportunities for training and development,
•To limit the requirement for the engagement of external consultants,
•To allocate resources to projects based on experience and specialist requirements,
•To share knowledge and experience of all aspects of our work,
•To work closely with other partners & stakeholders such as the Environment Agency to deliver flood risk and coastal erosion projects,
•To offer very competitive rates & a quality service.
We welcome the opportunity to extend our Client base working together with you either in partnership or in a consultancy role.
Contact Us
If you are interested in any of the services offered in this publication or require any further information let us know. If you are interested in setting up your own partnership – we are here to help you. Please see list of contacts below
Swale Borough Council – Mike Knowles – mikeknowles@swale.gov.uk
Canterbury City Council – Liam Wooltorton – Liam. Wooltorton@canterbury.gov.uk
Thanet District Council – Luke Glover – Luke.Glover@thanet.gov.uk
Dover District Council – Keith Watson – Keith.Watson@dover.gov.uk
Folkestone and Hythe District Council – Richard Kemp – Richard.Kemp@fokestone-hythe.gov.uk