Employment Land and Premises Review Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council H124(e)/Final Report/February 2020/BE Group 1 Employment Land and Premises Review Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 3 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 11 2.0 STRATEGIC CONTEXT ........................................................................................................ 17 3.0 SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE .............................................................................................. 38 4.0 PROPERTY MARKET ASSESSMENT ................................................................................. 47 5.0 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS .................................................................................... 66 6.0 EMPLOYMENT AREAS AND EMPLOYMENT SITES .......................................................... 74 7.0 FUNCTIONAL ECONOMIC MARKET AREA ....................................................................... 87 8.0 OBJECTIVELY ASSESSED NEEDS .................................................................................. 102 9.0 POTENTIAL NEW EMPLOYMENT SITES/AREAS ............................................................ 119 10.0 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................... 140 11.0 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................ 160 Appendix 1 – List of Consultees Appendix 2 – Vacant Property Schedules Appendix 3 – Employment Areas Monitoring Appraisal Appendix 4 – Employment Area Proformas Appendix 5 – Hinckley and Bosworth Area Scoring System Appendix 6 – Employment Area Scoring Results Appendix 7 – Employment Sites Proformas Appendix 8 – Potential New Employment Sites/Areas Proformas Appendix 9 - Developer Marketing Standards H124(e)/Final Report/February 2020/BE Group 2 Employment Land and Premises Study Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction 1.1 This report assesses the supply, need and demand for employment land and premises (use class B) in Hinckley and Bosworth. The Study has been commissioned to provide an overall assessment of the economic environment within Hinckley and Bosworth and to provide robust evidence to inform development of the Council’s new Local Plan, while being in accordance with the suite of adopted Hinckley and Bosworth Local Plan documents. The study updates previous employment land evidence base documents for the Borough. The key aims of the study are to: • Review adopted local employment related policies • Reconsider existing information on SMEs • Provide detailed local research and analysis to examine the current and potential future demand (to 2036) within the borough for all types/sectors of employment • Review the recommendations contained within the 2013 Employment Land and Premises Study in relation to which identified employment sites should be retained or released • Consideration should be given to the Energy Efficiency Regulations 2015 and the impact of changes in Energy Performance Certificates April 2018/2023 regulations will have on employment sites including suggesting any policy recommendations • Consider if there are any new sites that should be identified as employment sites • A review of existing designated employment sites to identify if boundaries could be redrawn • Update of the information relating to the employment needs and opportunities within rural areas • Consideration of the MIRA Enterprise Zone and what effect new development here has on the Borough • Explore the need for small creative sector starter space in Hinckley Town Centre • Consideration should be given to any other existing or proposed significant employment development in neighbouring local authority areas • Consideration should be given to key economic papers. H124(e)/Final Report/February 2020/BE Group 3 Employment Land and Premises Study Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council Methodology i) A number of research methods have been used, including site visits and interviews with property market stakeholders such as developers, investors and their agents. Major employers in the Borough have been individually consulted, as have key public-sector agencies. The property market in the local authority areas elsewhere in the Functional Economic Market Area (FEMA) has been reviewed through desktop analysis of employment and planning strategies, and consultations with officers from those local authorities. Finally, the land supply has been assessed against forecast data to understand future land need. The methodology follows Planning Practice Guidance on employment land reviews. ii) Whilst this report states the size of property in metric (sqm), the property market stakeholders use imperial (sqft), therefore the property market section of this report will state rental values at £/ sqft. Findings iii) Hinckley and Bosworth has a relatively affluent and skilled population, with reasonable level of economic activity. iv) The Borough’s dependence on public sector employment is well below average with 16.3 percent of the Borough’s workforce employed in public administration, education and health, in 2017. Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning employs a relatively high proportion of the workforce, 2250 people, over five times more than the national and regional averages. Major local employers include Cadent Gas, in Hinckley town. v) Hinckley and Bosworth also retains a strong local manufacturing sector, with 18.6 percent of the working population in manufacturing jobs, well above wider averages. In terms of service sectors, professional, scientific and technical and Business administration and support services have the strongest roles. vi) Transportation and storage employ some 3000 people in Hinckley and Bosworth, equating to 7.0 percent of local employment. This sector will grow further as the B8 schemes under development are completed. vii) Amongst the local businesses consulted there is a strong desire for growth, and some have struggled to find the space they need. Many local businesses have taken H124(e)/Final Report/February 2020/BE Group 4 Employment Land and Premises Study Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council steps to secure land and property, through a mixture of refurbishment/on site expansion and consolidation. Companies are reporting difficulties in getting enough warehousing and logistics staff to serve Hinckley and Bosworth’s extensive B8 sector. Labour supply could thus be one barrier to the continuing growth of warehousing uses which is such a strong element of the Leicester and Leicestershire economy. viii) Demand remains strong for small-midsized industrial properties of up to 1000 sqm to meet local business needs, and units up to 500 sqm for new businesses. Anything greater than 9000 sqm in size will likely serve the strategic market and can take time to let. Smaller space can attract rents of £75/sqm (£7.0/sqft), larger units rents of £60/sqm (£6.0 sqft). While older units can attract rents of around £56/sqm (£5.25/sqft). There is a shortage of units of all size to meet local needs, with development focusing on strategic options. ix) Local warehouse development in Hinckley and Bosworth reflects strong national and regional growth, with three major B2/B8 schemes proposed/under construction locally. The larger units proposed are in the 18,000-30,000 sqm size range and are seeing reasonable demand. Confidence in the ability of these new units to let/sell remains strong, despite the diverse range of competing schemes proposed in surrounding local authority areas. One concern is the lack of smaller opportunities which could meet the needs of local businesses. x) Local office demand is generally for sub-500 and particularly sub-100 sqm units, although the wider office market is overshadowed by Leicester and other large nearby settlements. Availability includes a lot of bigger units which are struggling to let. Hinckley Fields Industrial Estate remains the key office site in the Borough, while most rural office schemes are doing well, serving large local catchments. However, there is also an oversupply of lower grade office stock above shops, particularly in Hinckley town. Rents range from £97-110/sqm (£9-10/sqft) depending on quality. xi) Market stakeholders suggest unmet demand for creative space does exist in the Borough, with companies in traditional business centres and home based who could be accommodated in specialist facilities, requiring modern flexible units of sub-50 sqm each for a mix of activities. However, such companies have limited capacity to pay the levels of rent good quality creative sectors space require and any new accommodation would have to compete with a growing range of specialist facilities in H124(e)/Final Report/February 2020/BE Group 5 Employment Land and Premises Study Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council the County. xii) The defined functional economic market area for Hinckley and Bosworth includes the other local authority areas of Leicester and Leicestershire, and its neighbours Nuneaton and Bedworth and North Warwickshire, as well as more distant Coventry and Rugby. xiii) Within that functional economic market area most of the local authorities feel they can meet their employment land needs on land within their own