Supplementary Planning Guidance 12.8 Hi-Tech Cluster: Martlesham Heath Area Specific Guidance June 2001 Following the reforms to the Planning system through the enactment of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 all Supplementary Planning Guidance’s can only be kept for a maximum of three years. It is the District Council’s intention to review each Supplementary Planning Guidance in this time and reproduce these publications as Supplementary Planning Documents which will support the policies to be found in the Local Development Framework which is to replace the existing Suffolk Coastal Local Plan First Alteration, February 2001. Some Supplementary Planning Guidance dates back to the early 1990’s and may no longer be appropriate as the site or issue may have been resolved so these documents will be phased out of the production and will not support the Local Development Framework. Those to be kept will be reviewed and republished in accordance with new guidelines for public consultation. A list of those to be kept can be found in the Suffolk Coastal Local Development Scheme December 2004. Please be aware when reading this guidance that some of the Government organisations referred to no longer exist or do so under a different name. For example MAFF (Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) is no longer in operation but all responsibilities and duties are now dealt with by DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Another example may be the DETR (Department of Environment, Transport and Regions) whose responsibilities are now dealt with in part by the DCLG (Department of Communities & Local Government). If you have any questions or concerns about the status of this Supplementary Planning Guidance please contact a member of the Local Plan team who will be able to assist you in the first instance. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we feel it inappropriate to reproduce each document with the up to date Government organisations name as they change. 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This Brief provides the planning framework for the development of a Hi-Tech Cluster focussed about BT at Adastral Park, Martlesham, near Ipswich, and considers its relationship to the surrounding area, including Martlesham Heath Business Park and Martlesham Village. 1.2 The Brief constitutes Supplementary Planning Guidance to Policy ECON7 of the recently approved Suffolk County Structure Plan Review. It sets out the planning opportunities and design principles to advise prospective developers. 1.3 The objectives of this planning framework are to: • Create the circumstances for fostering a cluster of innovative businesses centred around BT’s Hi-Tech Research Development facility at Martlesham, enhancing the competitiveness and economic strengths of not only the immediate area but the Eastern Region; • Create a high quality environment for knowledge based employment; • Have appropriate regard to the environmental constraints, notably the potential impact on the archaeology of the area and the surrounding landscape, and the need to minimise pollution, including light and noise, for surrounding residential areas; • Further develop a sustainable, comprehensive network for all modes of transport in both the cluster and the surrounding areas; and • Provide the context for a comprehensive and co-ordinated development programme to consolidate this Hi-Tech Cluster. 1 SPG 12.8 – June 2001 2 LOCATION AND HISTORY 2.1 Martlesham Heath Business Park and Adastral Park lie close to Woodbridge and six miles from the centre of Ipswich. Both lie adjacent to Martlesham Heath village – a twentieth century village, and in close proximity to the remainder of the Ipswich Eastern Fringe residential areas (see Map 1). The A12 marks the western boundary of the business park, separating the employment area from the residential areas to the west, although linked via a pedestrian bridge. The A12, together with the A14 which runs just to the south of Martlesham Heath, provides good access to the rest of the country, including Cambridge, the Midlands and London. 2.2 The Martlesham Heath area, once an aerodrome of the RAF, has always had connections with innovations, research and development. In 1917 the War Office moved its experimental flights to Martlesham Heath. In the 1920s the base became known as the Aeroplane and Armament Experiment Establishment, researching and testing military and civil aircraft alike. The Airfield returned to experimental duties after the War. 2.3 The flight history of the aerodrome ceased when the last plane flew out in the 1970s. However, innovations continued. 2.4 In the latter part of the 1970s Martlesham Heath became the location for a new village, with environmental sustainability at the forefront of thinking. 2.5 The General Post Office bought 110 acres of the airfield in 1968 to allow it to move out of its previous premises in Dollis Hill, London, and elsewhere. It was attracted to the site because the surrounding countryside is relatively flat - ideal for testing the radio-based communications systems in vogue at the time. The Main Laboratory Block, incorporating the radio tower, was the first new building to be built on the site during the Post Office occupation of the site. 2.6 When the postal and communications activities of the Post Office were separated ownership of the site moved to British Telecommunications and its name was changed to BT Research Laboratories. In 1999 the name BT Laboratories was changed to Adastral Park, providing a link to the Park's former use, deriving its name from the Royal Air Force's motto - Per Ardua Ad Astra, or "through adversity to the stars". 2.7 Adastral Park is the centre for development of communications and Information Technology for BT and other leading telecommunications companies, and provides the base for the Martlesham Teleport. 2 SPG 12.8 – June 2001 3 CONTEXT 3.1 Within the East of England knowledge based activity is currently focussed about Cambridge and the M11/A1. The “Cambridge phenomenon” with its accent on rapid economic growth based on strong academic research has overshadowed the region’s other Research and Development (R&D) strengths. These include the life sciences cluster in Norwich, the major corporate pharmaceuticals presence in Stevenage and BT at Adastral Park, Martlesham, the UK’s largest non-pharmaceuticals corporate R&D site. 3.2 Adastral Park is a world renowned centre for communications and information technology research currently supporting approximately 3600 jobs and which in the last 20 years has supported up to 5,000 jobs on site. It undoubtedly benefits the local and regional economy, and complements the role of the adjoining Martlesham Heath Business Park. Of the total 79 hectares making up the entire Martlesham Heath Employment Area, over 50 per cent (some 42 hectares) comprises the Adastral Park complex, dominated by the monolithic laboratory building and tower rising above the surroundings. 3.3 Within the Business Park approximately 85 different companies currently operate. A number of the original RAF buildings have been used although there has also been significant new build over the years. Research and engineering firms occupy many units, which to an extent reflects the influence of Adastral Park. Further opportunities still remain within this area, through redevelopment and through new build on vacant land. The north-eastern part of the Business Park, adjacent to the northern entrance, has developed a retail profile (Beardmore Park and Tesco's) whilst about the southern entrance is a recreational/leisure node. 3.4 BT at Adastral Park is a significant and growing source of new businesses exploiting technologies developed at the Park. Similarly, through collaborative programmes and joint ventures, it has the potential to attract like-minded businesses to establish a presence close by, as well as sub contractors or other suppliers seeking to improve their competitive edge. 3.5 Strategically, Adastral Park provides a rare focus to foster the development of a cluster of knowledge based businesses drawing on the ideas, investment and expertise within BT, as a major attraction for inward investment into the region drawn by the undoubted expertise that already exists at this site. 3.6 To recognise, and exploit, this potential, the District Council is proposing, as shown on Map 2, a Hi-Tech Cluster comprising: • redevelopment and new development within Adastral Park itself, including the development of an Enterprise Village; • the allocation of an area of land, approximately 12 hectares (30 acres), to the south of the Adastral Park complex as an Innovation Park, adjacent the A12; and • the development of a strategic gateway for the Hi-Tech Cluster. 3 SPG 12.8 – June 2001 3.7 Furthermore, the District Council proposes the further development of certain parts of the adjacent Martlesham Heath Business Park in a manner that will complement the proposed Hi-Tech Cluster. 3.8 The District Council acknowledges that the scale of development proposed within this Brief, and the likely resultant level of employment provision is significant. Local concern regarding the implications of such growth at Martlesham Heath, in terms of housing, education and other social needs, is appreciated. However, it needs to be recognised that the Hi-Tech Cluster is of strategic importance. As such the associated needs arising from its development are to be addressed within the strategic context, and need not, therefore, all be accommodated within the immediate vicinity of the Cluster. 3.9 It is important to appreciate likely housing demands arising from the Hi-Tech Cluster, together with other employment generating ventures, have already been planned for, both in terms of numbers and general location. The Structure Plan Review, adopted in May 2001, which rolls forward housing demand to 2016, considers an additional 11400 dwellings to be required in Ipswich and its sub-region. Of this, 7750 dwellings are to be built within Ipswich.