Cheltenham Borough Employment Land Review

• Posted by Karyn Middleton on 6th Dec ’07 at 10:20 UTC
• 0 comments

Past, Present and Future

Cheltenham Borough Council has commenced gathering information for the formulation of policies for Development Plan Documents (DPD’S) to be incorporated into the Local Development Framework (LDF).

Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners (NLP) Employment Land Review has now been published. Recommendations within this document will inform the local authority in the formulation of policies for inclusion within the Cheltenham Borough LDF.

The thrust of employment policies within the adopted local plan (June 2006) seek to protect virtually all existing employment land and buildings. Redevelopment for alternative uses (outside use class B1, B2 and B8) is generally prohibited unless one or more of the exception caveats are met.

At the time the current local plan policies were formulated the Borough Council sought to protect existing employment sites as an alternative to the allocation of 12 hectares of new employment land. Despite the ongoing moratorium restricting the loss of employment land the town continues to lose employment land at the rate of around 1 hectare per annum.

The Employment Land Review prepared by Nathanial Lichfield and Partners recommends that provision be made within the LDF for an additional 30 hectares of employment land within the Borough (including 2 new business parks).

In addition consultants recommend that existing polices seeking to retain existing employment land / buildings be retained and strengthened in the new LDF documents. NLP were particularly critical of the current employment policies of the local plan which they considered failed to provide the basis for new employment or expansion of existing employment premises. Nathaniel Litchfield conclude that current polices comprise a significant constraint to growth and have a negative impact upon the economic prosperity of the town.

Employment land policies have far reaching implications for all those wishing to relocate to the borough or expand existing facilities within the borough and also for those wishing to redevelop land currently or previously in employment use. This includes:

• Retailing
• Leisure and Recreation
• Any use which generates employment but is not classified as an employment use (uses falling outside use class B1 – B2- General Industrial, B8-Storage and Distribution)

David Jones, Evans Jones LLP head of planning commented:

The employment land review provides a good starting point to inform all stakeholders and policy makers in formulating a clear strategy for sustainable growth within Cheltenham. Decision makers will again need to grapple with many conflicting issues in the further allocation of new green field sites to meet the economic development needs of the Borough.

Should councillors again fail to approve suggested allocations then the growth and prosperity of the town will undoubtedly suffer.

The protection of existing good quality employment land is wholly justified; however there are many smaller employment sites and/or poor quality or poorly located sites which offer little benefit in terms of meeting the needs of employment uses. Policy makers need to provide greater clarity as to which sites are and are not developable to avoid the poorer quality sites not being blighted.

I also have concerns in respect to the exclusion of other employment generating uses. Residential uses will continue to outbid most other forms of development in the market place and thus the overt protection of land and premises in B1, B2 and B8 uses could be to the serious detriment to other competing (non residential) uses such as complimentary medicine. leisure, hotel and retail uses.

Furthermore the protection of employment land will limit the ability for the local authority to meet housing supply requirements upon previously developed land and this will generate greater pressure for new residential land allocations on green field sites.

It is important that all stakeholders are aware of the implications of developing policies of the LDF in steering development in future years. The Government is committed to public consultation and community involvement in the process thus early engagement with the local authority is essential to ensure that policies are framed as far a practicable to meet the needs of the community and commerce alike.

For further advice on the implications of the current local plan and developing policies of the LDF contact David Jones at Evans Jones LLP on 01242 522822 or davidj@evansjones.co.uk.