The Economy and Employment Land Supply
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Matter 5 / Liverpool City Council Matter 5: The Economy and Employment Land Supply Issue 1: Does the Plan provide for a justified, effective and positively prepared Economic Vision and Strategy to support businesses, jobs growth and upskilling in the City over the plan period? Q5.1 Are the spatial priorities for sustainable economic growth in Liverpool in Policy STP1 soundly based and do they comprise a clear economic vision and strategy for the City consistent with the wider growth strategy and Strategic Economic Plan for the City Region/Local Enterprise Partnership? The spatial priorities for sustainable economic growth set out in Policy STP1 form part of a coherent framework which provides a clear economic vision and strategy for the City. Firstly, in Chapter 4 the Local Plan sets out an overall vision which includes the following economic vision: “Liverpool will be a city with a growing competitive and robust economy, attractive to new investment and business.” Building on the vision the Local Plan sets out (also within Chapter 4) a number of strategic priorities which provide a link between the high level vision and the policies and allocations needed to deliver the vision. These strategic priorities include: “Strengthen The City's Economy To increase the City’s economic performance by ensuring sustainable economic growth across all business sectors and areas with strong growth potential, for the benefit of the whole City to ensure economic disparities are reduced.” To deliver the economic vision and priorities, together with addressing the national planning priority to bring forward development and change in a sustainable way, the Local Plan sets out a number of spatial priorities in Policy STP1. For sustainable economic growth this means focusing economic development within the City’s key employment areas, which contain the most significant concentrations of previously developed land and vacant or underused buildings offering development potential and are in locations which are the most accessible to local communities. The approach to economic development, including the spatial priorities in Policy STP1, and the Plan as a whole, is underpinned by evidence, namely the Employment Land Study (February 2017) and the Strategic Housing & Employment Land Market Assessment (SHELMA). The spatial priorities, which include focusing economic development within the City’s key employment areas, the City Centre and providing support to the Airport and Port of Liverpool, also closely align with the Liverpool City Region Growth Strategy and Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) which details the interventions considered necessary to deliver growth. In particular, the SEP identifies five transformational 'strategic projects' that will deliver maximum impact and that will tie together various elements of the Growth Plan's approach. The five strategic growth projects are: Matter 5 / Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Centre - A centre for Business Growth across a range of sectors including business, financial and professional services, creative businesses and knowledge businesses in the Knowledge Quarter Liverpool City Region Freight & Logistics Hub - Capitalising on the £340m investment in Liverpool2 Multi-modal Port Access - Accessing the Port of Liverpool LCR2 Energy – To facilitate and enable the transition of the City Region's Energy supply for the needs of the Growth Plan and the 21st Century; by converting the City Region’s electricity, heat and transport power requirement to 100% Low Carbon, including local sourcing of offshore and marine renewable generation. LCR Capital Investment Fund – to support the delivery of the other projects referred to above. In addition to the five projects, one of the consistent elements of the growth plans for the LCR has been the SuperPort concept which aims to bring together and integrate the strengths of the ports, airports and freight community to develop a multimodal freight hub for freight and passenger operations across the LCR. Q5.2 Has there been engagement with the Local Enterprise Partnership and the business community to understand their needs and address any barriers to investment? Liverpool City Council has worked collaboratively with other Liverpool City Region (LCR) local authorities, strategic partners and stakeholders including the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). A Letter from the LEP at Appendix 1 to this Hearing Statement, outlines their role and support for the Local Plan Vision and Priorities, confirming that they support and align with the LEP’s ambitions for the City Region. In addition to, and complementing the City Council's own assessment of employment land need the Council, along with the Metropolitan and Borough councils of the LCR, worked with the LEP to prepared a Strategic Housing & Employment Land Market Assessment (SHELMA), to provide a comprehensive assessment of future housing need, jobs growth, and employment land need across the City Region for the period 2012-2037. The SHELMA considers two economic forecasts – a Baseline Scenario and a Growth Scenario both produced by Oxford Economics and the LEP. To assist in broadening the reach of the Local Plan consultation Liverpool Chamber of Commerce were invited to distribute information about the Local Plan through their networks for economic issues. Planning officers had for some years regularly attended sub-committees of the Chamber concerned with planning, construction and development and frequently gave updates on the progress of planning policy work. Matter 5 / Liverpool City Council Q5.3 What progress is being made on the Business Neighbourhood Plans (pages 117-118 of the submitted plan) and does that have any implications for the Local Plan? Have any been ‘made’ or progressed to examination? To date the City Council has designated six Neighbourhood Plan Areas (which are listed in paragraph 2.30 of the Local Plan) of which the following four are Business Neighbourhood Plan Areas: Baltic Triangle Liverpool Innovation Park LoveCanning Hartley’s Village Only the Liverpool Innovation Park Business Neighbourhood Area is wholly comprised of business uses and has no residential component. The three remaining Business Neighbourhood Plan Areas have been designated due to the need to balance the needs of commercial uses within the Plan areas with policies for non- business uses and to allow businesses a vote in the referendum on the Neighbourhood Plan that they would otherwise not have. It should be noted that paragraph 7.88 of the Local Plan incorrectly states that there are five Neighbourhood Plan areas. This will be corrected as a minor change which does not relate to soundness. 1. Baltic Triangle Business Neighbourhood Plan The Business Neighbourhood Area boundary was approved on 14th August 2015. A prospective Business NP Forum had been assisted by a planning consultant, Dave Chetwyn of Locality. However, to date no Forum has been designated to progress a Baltic Business Neighbourhood Plan and there are currently no plans to establish a Forum. 2. Liverpool Innovation Park Business Neighbourhood Area (LIPBNA) The Liverpool Innovation Park Business Neighbourhood Plan Area was designated in October 2013 and is the only designated Business Neighbourhood Area which comprises no residential property. The Business Neighbourhood Forum was subsequently designated on 8th July 2014. The Forum comprised 23 members, representing a strong mix of businesses within the Innovation Park. The Forum was administered by a Management Board of landowners, key companies and a representative from the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. Although there has been no formal dissolution of the Board it is no longer active. To date no Neighbourhood Plan has been ‘made’ or progressed to examination. 3. Love Canning Business Neighbourhood Area The Neighbourhood Plan Area was designated in July 2014 and the Forum was designated in March 2015. An assessment of the Neighbourhood Plan’s draft Matter 5 / Liverpool City Council policies and their compliance with the Liverpool Local Plan was undertaken by the Council in October 2018. A Strategic Environmental Assessment was completed by consultants, AECOM, in October 2019. The Forum has yet to meet to finalise the Business Neighbourhood Plan, but their Planning Consultant, Eddy Taylor, has indicated that they hope to consult on a Plan in Autumn 2020. 4. Hartley’s Village Business Neighbourhood Area The Business Neighbourhood Plan Area was designated in July 2014 and the Hartley’s Village Business Neighbourhood Plan Area Forum was approved in August 2015. An informal draft Business Neighbourhood Plan was received by the City Council in September 2016 and is currently being developed by the Forum with the assistance of their Planning Consultant, Locality. Anew forum application is to be submitted, as the existing designation expires August 2020. Overall None of the above Business Neighbourhood Plans have been ‘made’ or progressed to examination. LCC has sought to encourage and facilitate the progress of all 6 designated NP areas, but it is for the fora to progress the plans. Importantly, the disappointing lack of progress with these Business Neighbourhood Plans will not hinder progress towards adoption of the Local Plan. Matter 5 / Liverpool City Council Matter 5: The Economy and Employment Land Supply Issue 2: Does the Plan identify a sufficient and suitable supply of employment land to meet the quantitative and qualitative need for land and floorspace for economic development necessary to support aspirational but realistic jobs growth? Has the Plan over-allocated employment land and protected sites as ‘primarily industrial areas’ where there is no reasonable prospect of employment use in the plan period? Q5.4 Is the overall requirement for 149.5ha of employment land in Policy EC1 soundly based in meeting the labour demands likely to arise in the City (122.2ha1) and a proportion (27.3ha) of the sub-regional demand for large scale strategic warehousing/distribution arising from the SuperPort proposals? The overall requirement of 149.5ha of employment land for the period 2013-2033 set out in Policy EC1 is soundly based on the Liverpool Employment Land Study (ELS), which was published in February 2017.