Darlington Employment Land Review Report and Recommendations
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DARLINGTON EMPLOYMENT LAND REVIEW REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS Darlington Employment Land Review December 2009 CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 METHODOLOGY 3.0 POLICY AND RESEARCH CONTEXT 4.0 DARLINGTON CONTEXT 5.0 STAGE 1 – TAKING STOCK OF THE EXISTING SITUATION 6.0 STAGE 2 – CREATING A PICTURE OF FUTURE REQUIREMENTS 7.0 STAGE 3 – EMPLOYMENT LAND PORTFOLIO 8.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS GLOSSARY APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 SUMMARY OF CONSULTATIONS FROM BUSINESS FORUM APPENDIX 2 SUMMARY OF BUSINESS QUESTIONNAIRES APPENDIX 3 SITE ASSESSMENT SHEETS (STAGE 1 AND 2) APPENDIX 4 EMPLOYMENT LAND PORTFOLIO 2 Darlington Employment Land Review December 2009 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Darlington Borough Figure 2 North-east Region Figure 3 Tees Valley Sub-region Figure 4 Employment Growth 1991 – 2004 Figure 5 Deprivation in and around Darlington 2004 Figure 6 Urban Area Sites Figure 7 Rural Area Sites Figure 8 Speculative Floor space under Construction Figure 9 Employment Growth 2006 –2009 3 Darlington Employment Land Review December 2009 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 RSS General and Key Employment Allocations Table 2 Population Growth Table 3 Proportion of population by age (%) Table 4 Proportion of Darlington’s population that are of working age and in full-time education Table 5 Employment by broad industrial sector Table 6 Change in employment by broad industrial sector Table 7 Claimant Count unemployed, March 2006 Table 8 Medium and long-term claimant, March 2006 Table 9 Skills level of working age population Table 10 Out-commuting: Place of Work Table 11 In-commuting: Residence Table 12 Business registrations and de-registrations for VAT purposes Table 13 Sustainability Criteria Table 14 Marketability Criteria Table 15 Summary of Stage 1 Site assessments Table 16 Tees Valley Prime Rents (£ft2), 2009 Table 17 Overall level of enquires for business space in the Tees Valley Table 18 Enquires by type of activity in the Tees Valley Table 19 Enquires by floor space and land area, 2006 Table 20 Office supply in and around the town centre Table 21 ERS Assessment of Office space take-up in Darlington, 2006 – 2009 Table 22 Darlington: Current factory and warehouse availability by Grade (Sept 09) Table 23 Focus Assessment of industrial space take-up in Darlington (Sept 09) Table 24 Annual Employment land take-up of allocated employment sites in Darlington (ha) Table 25 Sectoral Employment forecasts 2009 – 2026 4 Darlington Employment Land Review December 2009 Table 26 Sectoral floor space requirements 2006 – 2026 Table 27 Summary of floor space requirements by industrial classification Table 28 Anticipated employment land take-up by source Table 29 Structure of employment land Table 30 Assessed employment land availability Table 31 Recommended Employment Land Portfolio – Existing Employment Sites Table 32 Recommended Employment Land Portfolio – New Employment Sites Table 33 Sites recommended for deallocation Table 34 Recommended no-use restriction sites Table 35 Sites recommended for Employment Land Portfolio by category Table 36 Recommended Employment Land Portfolio – Available land by market segment Table 37 Recommended new Employment Land Portfolio by deliverability timescale (gross allocated land) Table 38 Sustainability Ranking of Sites Table 39 Marketability Ranking of Sites Table 40 Overall Assessment of Sites 5 Darlington Employment Land Review December 2009 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLG Communities and Local Government DPD Development Plan Document ELR Employment Land Review GO-NE Government Office For The North East LDD Local Development Document LDF Local Development Framework LDS Local Development Scheme LNR Local Nature Reserve ODPM Office of the Deputy Prime Minister RSS Regional Spatial Strategy SHLAA Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment SPD Supplementary Planning Document SME Small and Medium Enterprise 6 Darlington Employment Land Review December 2009 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background This Employment Land Review has been prepared by Darlington Borough Council to provide part of the evidence gathering required for the production of Darlington’s Local Development Framework (LDF). In particular, it is expected to inform the overall direction of employment policy (to be set out in the Core Strategy) and will assist in the formation of detailed policies (to be set out in the Accommodating Growth Development Plan Document (DPD). In December 2006 King Sturge completed an Employment Land Review for Darlington as part of a wider commission on the Darlington Gateway, along with Consultants BDP and Regeneris. This Employment Land Review draws heavily on the information provided in the initial 2006 / 07 review, but goes further to provide an update with evidence and clarity of the existing employment land supply and the local economic circumstances. The study has been undertaken in accordance with the advice given in the Employment Land Reviews Guidance Note, issued by the ODPM (now CLG) in 20041. The review consists of three key stages of work; Stage 1 – Taking Stock of the Existing Situation; Stage 2 – Creating a Picture of Future Requirements; and Stage 3 – Identifying a New Portfolio of Sites. Stage 1 Findings Stage 1 of the review is a simple assessment of the ‘fitness for purpose’ of the existing employment land portfolio. The principle purpose of the assessment is to identify which sites should be retained in employment use, and which could potentially be released for other uses. A set of 46 No. Employment sites were identified, which principally consist of employment allocations from the existing Borough of Darlington Local Plan 1997 (Alterations 2001) and also extensions to employment land that have been brought about through the granting of planning permission2 together with sites in existing employment use or with a predominantly industrial or commercial character, with the potential for employment use in the future. Individual site appraisals were made within the context of an initial assessment of the likely demand for employment land based on the characteristics of the sites in question with a criteria based on the most important factors affecting the location and the marketability of existing and potential employment sites in the Borough. The individual site appraisals found that the most sustainable sites for employment or a mix of employment and other uses are; Whessoe Road; South East Town Centre Fringe; East Town Centre Fringe; Central Park; and Valley Street. The most marketable sites for employment or mixed uses were found to be; Faverdale East Business Park; Yarm Road South; South East Town Centre Fringe; Morton Park; and, Morton Palms. This gave an initial indication of the fitness for purpose of each of the sites, to be taken into consideration through to Stage 3 of the Employment Land Review. 1 CLG (2004); Employment Land Reviews: Guidance Note; TSO; London 2 These principally relate to Durham Tees Valley Airport extension and Haughton Road (Central Park) site 7 Darlington Employment Land Review December 2009 Stage 2 Findings Stage 2 of the review provides an assessment of the likely future requirements for employment land using a range of forecasting techniques. The assessment demonstrates an anticipated demand for some 101.5ha of employment land over the period 2009-2026. The portfolio of sites that represent the existing employment land supply within the borough covers some 343.8ha. It is therefore evident that in quantitative terms, there would seem to be more than enough employment land currently available to meet the anticipated need over the coming years, but a figure that is still within the Regional Spatial Strategy figure of 360ha. This stage of the review allowed a basis for further consideration of the qualitative aspects of the employment land requirement, to ensure that sites were provided that were of the right type to meet the needs of businesses now and over the coming years. The study goes onto consider the individual site assessments carried out in the context of this, and of other important studies, such as the Gateway Study, to consider the sites that should be taken through to provide a well structured and robust employment land and premises portfolio. Stage 3 Findings Stage 3 of the review confirms, through a detailed site appraisal process, which sites from the identified portfolio of sites are most likely to respond well to the expectations of occupiers and developers, whilst meeting established sustainability criteria. In light of the evident over-supply of employment land to meet the anticipated need, no further sites were considered. Stage 3 considers the sites in Stage 1 and identifies those to be taken forward to a recommended portfolio of sites and also considers those sites where a relaxation in the type of uses permitted, would be appropriate. The sites are shown below in Tables I and ii (below). Table I: Recommended Employment Land Portfolio – Existing Employment Sites No Site Name (ha) Site area Gross (ha) Available GF (ha) Available PDL Land (ha) Available Net Policy Plan Local 1 Faverdale 120 120 0 120 EP8 2 Faverdale East Business Park 66.08 36.36 8.35 44.71 EP3.5 3 Faverdale Industrial Area 56.78 5 0 5 EP2.7 4 Drinkfield 15.27 4.34 0.82 5.16 EP2.8 5 Whessoe Road 11.8 0 0 0 EP2.8 15 Valley Street 21.77 0 1.87 1.87 EP2.1 16 Cleveland Street 18.88 0 0.96 0.96 EP2.2 17 Albert Hill 16.02 1.27 0 1.27 EP2.3 23 Borough Road (to be combined 4.7 0 0 0 EP2.10 with East Town Centre Fringe) 24 Central Park 27.97 0 10 10 EP4