Replacement Calderdale UDP : Adopted 25 August 2006 (as amended August 2009)

Replacement Calderdale UDP : Adopted 25 August 2006

• Foreword
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Calderdale in Context
• Strategic and Core Part One Policies
• 3 Guiding Principles and Key Themes
• 4 Employment, The Economy, Tourism and Regeneration
  • Background to Economic Policy
  • Primary Employment Areas
  • Employment Development Outside the Primary Employment Areas
  • The Need for New Employment Land
    • Current Employment Site Provision
    • The Provision of Employment Land for Local Companies
    • The Provision of New Employment Sites
    • Employment Land Take Up
    • Amount of Employment Land Provision
  • The Allocation of New Employment Sites
  • Mixed Use Allocations
  • Safeguarding Employment Land and Buildings
  • Office Development
  • Warehouse Development
  • Tourism Attractions and Facilities
  • Rural Diversification
  • Agricultural, Equestrian and Other Animal Based Uses
  • Regeneration of Derelict and Degraded Land and Buildings
  • The Piece Hall
• 5 Housing
• 6 Retailing and Town Centres
• 7 Open Space, Sport and Recreation Facilities
• 8 The Built and Historic Environment
• 9 Transport
• 10 Infrastructure, Education and Community Facilities
• 11 Natural Environment and the Countryside
• 12 Environmental Protection
• 13 Minerals
• 14 Waste Management
• 15 Monitoring and Review of the Plan
• Annex A Privacy, Daylighting and Amenity Space
• Annex B Trees On or Adjacent to Development Sites
• Appendix 1 National Planning Policy
• Appendix 2 National Minerals Policy
• Appendix 3 Supporting Published Documents
• Appendix 4 Glossary of Terms
• Appendix 5 Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Appendix 6 Policy Topic Index
• Appendix 7 Policy Number Comparison
• Appendix 8 Supplementary Maps

The Need for New Employment Land

4.9 The UDP seeks to ensure that there is an adequate supply of employment land to meet the needs of existing and new firms. Without the availability of sufficient land and property in appropriate locations and of the right price and quality, business performance will suffer. Unsuitable premises and sites can increase costs and constrain growth, whereas suitable accommodation can lower costs, increase profits, and enhance survival and growth rates. Most employment land is in private ownership, being held by owners for their own purposes, a factor which could limit the Council’s ability to control or influence the efficient and effective use of land for employment use. The majority of employment land tends to be concentrated in the Lower Calder Valley where there are fewer topographical constraints and there is proximity to the M62 motorway. In the western parts of the District there are fewer sites and limited potential by virtue of physical, access and topographical constraints. Where there is an opportunity to bring forward land within the main towns for employment use, encouragement will be given through UDP policies.

4.10 In June 2000, Calderdale MBC commissioned an independent consultancy (the Business Environments Group) to provide an objective assessment of Calderdale’s present and future economy and economic land supply in order to inform the Replacement Plan. A report was produced in February 2001 that assessed the District’s economic prospects and requirements for the next 20 years and recommended new employment site locations. An important consideration in the location of new employment sites is that economic development needs to be channelled into those areas where the market is prepared to invest. It is for this reason that an external economic consultant was utilised in order to provide an impartial and objective market perspective to employment site selection. The economic consultant’s report informs this section of the Replacement Plan and has been published by the Council as a supporting document (see Appendix 3).

Current Employment Site Provision

4.11 The employment site allocations in the former UDP (1997) have achieved mixed success in delivering the aspirations of the UDP. Some of the employment sites did not possess the attributes that meet the requirements of modern industry and business. However, the Lowfields Business Park in Elland has demonstrated that there is demand for employment land in Calderdale providing that the circumstances are right, i.e. well accessed, flat sites, close to centres of population and the M62 motorway. Lowfields has not only satisfied demand from indigenous companies seeking to expand or consolidate in more efficient, modern premises, but has also drawn new inward investment to add to the District’s business stock and employment base. Lowfields has almost been fully developed and, similar opportunities should continue to be provided in the Replacement Plan.

The Provision of Employment Land for Local Companies

4.12 Employment land needs to be available for local companies. Much investment in new products and processes takes place within existing firms. Many local companies have established local workforces, suppliers and logistical arrangements and therefore prefer to expand or relocate in or close to their existing premises. Future investment is likely in the main to be generated from businesses located in the district, local entrepreneurs, or those willing to relocate from the sub-region. The UDP provides suitable employment land to enable local businesses to continue to operate successfully and flourish in the future by allowing for any expansion needs to be accommodated locally.

The Provision of New Employment Sites

4.13 The retention of a mixed economy in Calderdale is constrained by the current assets and opportunities associated with employment land. Problems encountered locally in the past in attracting new inward investment have been further compounded by the fact that Calderdale has suffered with the absence of UK and European financial aid in comparison with adjacentd districts. An examination of the existing available employment land supply reveals that there is insufficient land to meet future need/demand. In order to maintain dynamism within Calderdale’s mixed economy and to reduce the requirement for long distance commuting, there is an overriding need to continue to attract new investment and business from outside the region as well as providing the capacity for growth of its indigenous companies. This can be achieved through the provision of an adequate and balanced portfolio of employment sites that provide for different types of development opportunities up to 2016 (and to have an available resource for up to a further 2 to 4 years beyond that date), an approach which is endorsed by RSS for Yorkshire and the Humber to 2016. This provision is critical as the supply of developable sites is reducing, particularly within the prime and preferred investment locations in the District.

4.14 The quality of employment land provision is a critical issue. The aim is to ensure that a broad range of sites and premises are available, which are readily capable of development and well served by infrastructure, and which meet the requirements of existing firms and potential employers in order to allow the local economy to grow in a sustainable manner. The Replacement Plan therefore seeks to ensure that the new allocations are viable and available for development. The provision of such sites should ensure that Calderdale continues to retain a diverse mixed economy both now and in the future, whilst also helping to assist existing and incoming businesses to expand or relocate locally and provide jobs for the more disadvantaged. Failure to provide sufficient attractive readily developable land will jeopardise the UDP’s responsibility to meet the needs of existing, emerging and incoming businesses, to strengthen the local economy and to help reduce unemployment.

4.15 Economic projections for Calderdale up to 2010 have been produced as part of the Economic Consultant’s report. The main findings are that a 5.5% growth in the level of employment within the District will occur, but with contrasting trends within differing employment sectors. Manufacturing jobs are likely to decrease by 16% and Financial and Business Services jobs expected to rise by almost 37% over the period to 2010. The implications for the employment land supply situation is that employment growth will be concentrated largely in a sector that would require B1 office space rather than B2 industrial or B8 warehouse accommodation.

Employment Land Take Up

4.16 In considering the provision and adequate supply of employment sites, account has been taken of previous rates of land take up and the anticipated likely future demand for employment sites in Calderdale. Employment land take up (within Use Classes B1, B2 and B8) between 1985 and 1995 in Calderdale has been at an annual average of 4.5ha per annum, but between April 1995 and March 2001 this increased to 7.8ha per annum, which directly correlates to development activity at Lowfields. To sustain the more recent higher level of land take up, additional employment opportunities will have to be provided because at this take up rate there is currently insufficient employment land to meet future need. Actual take up rates of land, however, are only part of the picture and the Council has also had regard to latent demand, which has been deterred because of a shortage of developable sites. Ideally, there is therefore a need to provide employment land in excess of past take-up rates. In order to provide an adequate supply of employment land from 2001 through to 2018/2020 (as outlined in Paragraph 4.13) based on a figure of 7.8ha per annum take-up, in the region of between 132-148ha of employment land is required to be allocated. Employment land take up will continue to be monitored in order to inform future reviews of the Plan, as part of the Local Development Framework (LDF).

Amount of Employment Land Provision

4.17 In order to meet the requirements of the RSS and PPG4 ‘Industrial and Commercial Development and Small Firms’ (1992) to provide sufficient land for employment use, taking into account the need to provide a good choice and mix of sites, together with an allowance for latent demand, the Council considers that in the order of 120ha of employment land should be allocated in the Plan. Therefore:-

4.18 The employment land provision figure is based on past land take up rates and projected need arising from new industrial investment and local expansion to 2018/2020. There is an additional hidden resource in land held by companies for their own future use and there will be other future windfalls arising from redevelopment opportunities. In addition, a further resource of approximately 12 to 16ha of windfall employment land is likely to be contained within the mixed-use site allocations (this is 25-33% of the total mixed-use site area) as outlined in Policy E 4 ‘Sites Allocated for Mixed-Use’. Based on the 7.8ha land take up rate figure, the 120ha allocation is below the required 17 to 19 years supply of employment land, although with the addition of windfall opportunities and mixed-use sites these amount to the required level of employment land provision. The total figure for employment land allocations in  Policy E 3 ‘Sites Allocated for Employment Use.’ is below the 120ha in POLICY GE 2 ‘PROVISION OF EMPLOYMENT LAND’ due to the deletion of Sterne Mill, Sowerby Bridge (formerly EM58) during the latter stages of plan preparation. However, this loss is compensated for by the introduction of the Sowerby Bridge/Copley Regneneration Action Area which includes land for employment purposes.The 120ha of allocated employment land is made up of:-

1. 58.61ha of land allocated as part of the former UDP (1997) as Employment Sites which have not been developed but which serve sub-regional and local development requirements and are carried forward into the Replacement Plan as new employment sites.
   
2. 37.68ha of employment land designated in the former UDP as Primary Employment Areas that have not been developed but which serve sub-regional and local development requirements and are given the status of new employment sites in the Replacement Plan.
   
3. 23.65ha of land allocated as new employment sites that can serve sub-regional and local development requirements.

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