With two motorways running through this seat, the M2 and the M20, it is ideally situated for commuters desiring a pleasant retreat in the Kentish countryside.
Agriculture, commonly in the form of hop farms, is the traditional industry, but most of the workforce is non-manual. Only 15% of homes in the seat are rented from the council and with relatively low unemployment it is not surprising that the Tories have in the past done so well here.
Faversham, on the Swale estuary, is the only even reasonably large town, giving the seat a rural feel.
The seat also has an ancient character, amply captured by its most famous building - Leeds Castle. Elsewhere, Doddington Gardens, medieval houses and gunpowder mills testify to a civilised existence in this part of the country for many hundreds of years.
More recent construction projects continue to prove controversial, two in particular. The first is the incinerator at Dargate, just over the border in Sittingbourne and Sheppey, but the pollution, heavy vehicles and residents’ concern do not respect constituency barriers. The second project raises similar worries: the Channel Tunnel Rail Link bisects this constituency, running alongside the recently-upgraded M20.
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