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
  • 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, Day lighting 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 Allocation of New Employment Sites

4.19 The principle constraints for developing new employment sites in Calderdale are topography, development/site preparation costs, the risk of flooding and access to the strategic road, motorway, rail and canal networks. Other issues of importance in considering the location of new employment sites are the accessibility of the site by public transport, environmental issues and the compatibility of neighbouring uses.

4.20 The Economic Consultant's report states that: “Ideally Calderdale should focus infrastructure investment on:

• A supply of competitive sites which capitalize on the opportunities of the M62 corridor growth pole;

• Opportunity corridors which develop the advantage of existing links to the M62 corridor and to other strategic road and rail services infrastructure;

• Sites which can be served cost-effectively by public transport;

• Sites which can be linked effectively to Halifax town centre and to one or more of Calderdale’s other population centres.”

4.21 The Lower Valley areas along the Sowerby Bridge-Elland-Brighouse axis present Calderdale’s preferred employment development locations. The area benefits from relatively flat topography, access to the strategic road network especially to the M62, railway links, good public transport, and close proximity to Halifax and the majority of the District’s population. These are locations that have attracted, and are likely to continue to attract, developers and businesses. New employment sites have been sought in these locations, but unfortunately there are only limited opportunities to add to the employment land resource in these prime locations. More extensive provision and opportunities could exist in North Halifax, but because of its remoteness from and problematic access to, the motorway corridor, it is considered to be a location suited primarily to relatively small-scale local companies. Elsewhere within the District, opportunities to provide new employment sites have been sought to meet the needs of existing local businesses and new start-ups.

4.22 Principally, the Council would wish to concentrate the provision of new employment sites within the urban areas (particularly on previously developed land), subject to being able to deliver a continuing land supply of sufficient quantity and quality in order to assist urban regeneration and to encourage economic growth, whilst safeguarding the environment and the countryside. Unfortunately, there is a limited supply of developable land in the urban areas and much of the land that does exist suffers from severe constraints that dictate that it is unlikely such sites would actually be developed in the Plan period. In such circumstances, economic regeneration is likely to be frustrated rather than aided. The Council has had regard to the advice in the RSS (Policy P2), which states that the release of Green Belt land can be justified by the need to enable development to proceed to achieve economic regeneration or to maintain a buoyant economy. Consideration has therefore been given to the re-designation of sites to accommodate employment-related development and the Green Belt boundary has been amended to accommodate an important proportion of the overall provision of new employment land. Four Green Belt sites totalling 12.71ha of land are reallocated for employment uses. Much of this is in the eastern part of the district close to the M62 motorway.

4.23 The RSS states that various types of regionally significant sites should be reserved and protected from inappropriate or piecemeal development. The designation of these regionally significant sites is a matter for the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly in the context of the Regional Employment Land Survey that they are undertaking. Of the new employment sites allocated in Policy E 3 ‘Sites Allocated for Employment Use.’ it is considered that only the Wakefield Road site at Clifton (EM42) could potentially fulfil the characteristics of a regionally significant ‘premium’ employment site. Due to various constraints it is likely that the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly will view all other new employment site allocations as not of the requisite size or characteristics to be considered as regionally significant (although they will serve sub-regional and local development requirements). In addition, of the sites allocated in the Plan, the Council considers that some of these should be restricted to specific types of employment use. B1 office and technology parks have strict locational requirements that distinguish them from normal B1/B2 industrial developments. Given the very limited number of sites capable of meeting such criteria, good use of resources dictates that certain sites are restricted to B1 office/technology parks only. Sites may also be restricted to certain uses in order to protect the amenity of local residents where this is appropriate. Proposals for development on new employment sites will be assessed against the criteria within Policy E 3 ‘Sites Allocated for Employment Use.’ and other relevant UDP policies. In particular regard should be had to the requirements of POLICY GT 5 ‘TRANSPORT ASSESSMENTS ’ and Policy T 1 ‘Travel Plans’ that outline the need for Transport Assessments and Travel Plans. The new employment sites together with any restrictions on specific sites are set out below:-

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