Employment Land Review November 2017
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Employment Land Review November 2017 Employment Land Review Updated November 2017 BarrowBarrow Borough Borough Council Local Plan Employment Land Review November 2017 Barrow Borough Council Employment Land Review November 2017 Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Economic Overview – Cumbria and Barrow....................................................................... 4 Strategic Planning Context ................................................................................................ 5 Drivers of Change and Employment Land Requirements .................................................. 6 Local Property Market ....................................................................................................... 7 Employment Land Forecasts ............................................................................................. 8 Assessment of Potential Employment Sites ....................................................................... 9 Recommendations........................................................................................................... 10 1.0 Introduction 12 National Strategy and Guidance ...................................................................................... 12 Study Area ...................................................................................................................... 17 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 18 2.0 Economic Overview - Cumbria and Barrow 19 Economic Performance ................................................................................................... 20 Changes in Workforce ..................................................................................................... 24 Investment Trends ........................................................................................................... 25 Changes in Turnover ....................................................................................................... 26 Employee Projections ...................................................................................................... 27 Employee Roles .............................................................................................................. 30 Companies Registered and Dissolved ............................................................................. 31 Economic Inactivity .......................................................................................................... 32 Population Trends ........................................................................................................... 33 Key Points ....................................................................................................................... 35 3.0 Strategic Planning Context 37 The Four Pronged Attack: Cumbria Strategic Economic Plan 2014-2024 ........................ 37 Delivering the Four-Pronged Attack: Cumbria’s Strategic Investment Plan (Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, 2016) .......................................................................................... 41 Business Plan: Key Priorities ........................................................................................... 43 Skills Investment Plan 2016-2020 (Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, 2016) ............ 45 A National Cradle for Advanced Manufacturing – Towards a New Economic Vision for Furness, Revised June 2013 ........................................................................................... 46 Barrow Borough Council 1 Employment Land Review November 2017 Furness Economic Delivery Plan 2014-2017: Sustaining a National Cradle for Advanced Manufacturing .................................................................................................................. 47 Barrow Area Plan 2014-17 .............................................................................................. 48 Barrow Borough Local Plan 1996-2006 ........................................................................... 48 Barrow Port AAP (Barrow Borough Council, 2010) .......................................................... 49 Key Points ....................................................................................................................... 50 4.0 Drivers of Change and Employment Land Requirements 52 Advanced Manufacturing ................................................................................................. 52 Energy ............................................................................................................................. 54 Public Sector ................................................................................................................... 57 Other Industries ............................................................................................................... 58 Port of Barrow ................................................................................................................. 59 Incentives for Growth ....................................................................................................... 62 Plans and Strategies of Neighbouring Districts ................................................................ 63 Infrastructure Constraints ................................................................................................ 67 Key Points ....................................................................................................................... 73 5.0 Local Property Market 75 The Local Property Market .............................................................................................. 75 Supply of Land and Premises .......................................................................................... 82 Summary of Available Industrial and Office Premises ...................................................... 90 Emerging Projects in Furness .......................................................................................... 93 Employment Floorspace: Losses and Completions ......................................................... 96 Loss to Other Uses ........................................................................................................ 100 Key Points ..................................................................................................................... 103 6.0 Employment Land Forecasts 105 Option 1: Job-growth Forecast ...................................................................................... 105 Option 2: Labour Supply Forecast ................................................................................. 110 Option 3: Historic Land Take-up Forecast ..................................................................... 113 Option 4 (Preferred Option): Job-Growth Forecast – Policy on ...................................... 114 Key Points ..................................................................................................................... 116 7.0 Assessment of Potential Employment Sites 117 The Current Employment Land Supply .......................................................................... 117 Site Assessment Summaries ......................................................................................... 123 Barrow Borough Council 2 Employment Land Review November 2017 Opportunity Areas ......................................................................................................... 142 Distribution of Employment Land ................................................................................... 150 Key Points ..................................................................................................................... 151 8.0 Conclusion 152 9.0 Recommendations 156 Appendices 158 Appendix 1 – Site Assessment Criteria 158 Appendix 2 – Site Assessment Proformas 160 Appendix 3 – Site Assessment Scoring 185 Appendix 4 – Consultation with Commercial Land Agents, April 2014 199 Appendix 5 – Consultation with Commercial Land Agents, June 2014 200 Appendix 6 – List of commercial land agents 202 Barrow Borough Council 3 Employment Land Review November 2017 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Barrow Borough Council is producing a new Local Plan that will guide development in the Borough to 2031. The main purpose of the Employment Land Review is to provide a robust and credible evidence base of the demand and supply of land for employment which in turn will inform the production of the Local Plan. Economic Overview – Cumbria and Barrow 2. The Travel to Work Area (TTWA) is a Tier 2 Assisted Area and is largely self-contained, although there are important links to neighbouring Copeland Borough outside of the TTWA. Cumbria’s biggest sector by a considerable margin is manufacturing, and this is concentrated in the Furness area including major companies such as BAE Systems and GlaxoSmithKline that specialise in advanced manufacturing. 3. Between 2005 and 2015, Cumbria had an overall growth rate of 51.1% in GVA, which is significantly higher than the national growth rate of 34.2% over the same period. Much of this growth was driven by West Cumbria (Allerdale, Barrow and Copeland), where manufacturing performance has been particularly strong due to the stability of major manufacturing operations. Younger businesses in Cumbria were more likely to report increased levels of investment during 2015/16 than more established businesses. However, the likelihood of experiencing turnover growth increases with business size. 4. The highest proportion