News

The 320 figure of Pfizer redundancies announced two weeks ago is being offset by a new massive greenhouse development in Thanet.

The first glasshouses are scheduled for construction in March 2008.

The new glasshouse development, which will boost home-grown salad produce and bring in 550 new jobs.

The fresh produce supplier, Fresca Group, which is based in Paddock Wood, plans to build the complex in Thanet.

It will team up with specialist large-scale growers of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the enterprise, called Thanet Earth.

Seven huge greenhouses will be erected at an old cauliflower farm between Birchington and St Nicholas at Wade.

Each one of them will be the size of 10 premiership football pitches and will be computer-controlled.

About £80m will be invested in building the 91-hectare site.

The first glasshouses are scheduled for construction in March 2008, and the first Thanet Earth crops should hit the shelves during the autumn of that year.