Local Plan Central Bedfordshire Council Priory House Monks Walk Chicksands Shefford SG17 5TQ Date: 25 August 2017 Our ref: 15572/HS/SF/14629185v2 Your ref: Dear Sir/Madam Representations to the Draft Central Bedfordshire Local Plan Prologis Park Marston Gate On behalf of our client, Prologis UK Limited, Lichfields is pleased to set out representations to the ‘Central Bedfordshire Draft Local Plan’ (July 2017) (“the Local Plan”). Prologis UK Limited (‘Prologis’) is the UK’s leading developer and owner of logistics property. Prologis has unrivalled experience in identifying and delivering strategic sites within the UK. Prologis currently manages 20 million sq ft of floorspace in locations across the country. The sites are all designed to a high quality standard and make a significant and sustainable contribution to the local communities within which they are located. Prologis appreciates the opportunity to work with Central Bedfordshire on the production of the Local Plan. This letter provides information on the proposed Prologis Park Marston Gate expansion site, detailing the benefits of the allocation of the site within the Local Plan. Prologis Park Marston Gate Expansion, Brogborough The Prologis Park Marston Gate expansion site is located adjacent to Junction 13 of the M1 motorway, near Brogborough. The site is located to the west of the established Prologis Park Marston Gate that currently comprises nine warehouses, with high profile occupiers including Amazon, Unilever and FedEx. The proposed expansion site would extend the existing facility by 43 hectares. Its relationship to existing operations means it can take full advantage of the strong links to existing infrastructure, notably the site is just 200m to the north of Ridgmont Station with regular services and links to Bedford and London. Prologis has developed plans to an advanced stage for the proposed expansion site with a view to the submission of an application for planning permission to Central Bedfordshire Council in the near future. A preliminary masterplan has been produced for the development of up to six logistics buildings, a new access route and approximately 9 hectares of new planting and landscape enhancement to protect the local amenity and preserve the character of the site’s wider setting. A master plan is attached to these representations for information in this regard. Prologis takes pride in the delivery of high quality buildings that seek to achieve BREEAM Excellent rating; this is through the use of sustainable building products and energy saving Registered in England No. 2778116 Regulated by the RICS measures. The Council can be assured that the allocation of this site for strategic distribution development will result in a development of the highest standard of sustainability being delivered. Prologis Park Marston Gate benefits from a significant range of Park Services, provided by Prologis. This includes: a liftshare scheme, on-site parking controls, centralised maintenance of private roads, drainage and landscaping, Park signage, litter picking, Park staff amenity open space provision and maintenance, shared building cleaning, on-site recruitment, snow cleaning and gritting, tenant estate and HR meetings and community liaison. The additional development which the proposed allocation would secure will provide the opportunity to justify enhancements to this level of service. As part of the supporting evidence for the Local Plan, the proposed extension to the existing Prologis Park as a strategic employment site for industrial and manufacturing (use class B2) and storage/distribution (use class B8) has been comprehensively considered within the Council’s Strategic Employment Site Assessment (Land at Ridgmont, Ref no NLP244). The Strategic Employment Technical Document is a robust document that has developed over the course of the preparation of the Local Plan. The initial assessment established a number of key tests that potential strategic employment sites should meet (Appendix D). The proposed Marston Gate expansion site passed the preliminary tests (Ref No. NLP24), the site was considered to have no overriding constraints and was considered suitable to accommodate a strategic employment site. The further detailed assessment of the site (Appendix F) reviewed the site in three stages; Stage 1 included the suitability and availability of the site (Exclusionary Stage), Stage 2 provided an assessment of the suitability of the site and Stage 3 included an assessment of the availability of the site. The expansion site passed all three stages and the recommendation from the Stage 3 assessment included allocating the site as a strategic employment site in the Local Plan. In comparison to other potential strategic distribution sites that were submitted for consideration, the proposed Marston Gate expansion site performs well in the strategic and detailed site assessments. The proposed expansion site not only provides an additional 43 hectares of land suitable for B2 and B8 uses, the site is also highly accessible to public transport and the visual impacts of its development can be reduced due to the site being adjacent to the established Prologis Park as well as its inherent topography and landscape containment. The proposed expansion site is both deliverable and sustainable and provides a logical expansion to the highly successful Prologis Park. Prologis agrees with the conclusions of the Council’s site assessments and considers the proposed expansion site to be a logical location for further employment, particularly in the form of logistics and distribution development. Furthermore, Prologis fully supports the recommendations from the Stage 3 assessment that the expansion site should be allocated within the Local Plan. Responses to the Local Plan Comments are made below on various draft policies that are of particular relevance to the proposed development site, in the context of paragraph 182 of the NPPF. The policies are addressed below in the order that they appear in the draft document. Policy SP1 (Growth Strategy) Prologis supports this policy, with suggested amendments Prologis supports the inclusion of “Area C – M1 Junction 13” as a strategic employment area, as designated in the proposed Policy SP1. The allocation of around 40 hectares for employment within this area refers to the Prologis expansion site in all but name. In light of this, Prologis supports the allocation of this strategic Pg 2/7 14629185v2 employment area within the Local Plan but would suggest that clear reference is made to the Prologis Park Marston Gate expansion as a specific allocation within the Local Plan. The allocation of this area as a strategic employment area will significantly assist the Council in accomplishing the set target of 24,000 new jobs between 2015 and 2035. The established Prologis Park Marston Gate is a highly successful distribution and logistics centre that comprises nine warehouse units. The proposed Prologis Park Marston Gate expansion will provide approximately 160,000sqm of logistics floorspace for industrial and manufacturing (B2 use class) to storage and distribution (B8 use class) and will result in the creation of approximately 2,000 jobs. The proposed expansion site is consistent with paragraph 18 of the NPPF, in securing economic growth in order to create jobs and prosperity. Prologis has prepared an infographic summarising the economic benefits of the proposed development of the Prologis Park Marston Gate expansion as proposed in the draft allocation and this is attached to these representations to provide the Council with additional support for the proposed inclusion of the expansion of the existing logistics site in the Local Plan. Policy SP1 also states that further assessments focused on the sustainability and deliverability of proposed sites will be undertaken as part of the preparation of the pre-submission Local Plan. Prologis would like to highlight that the extension site represents a natural progression of the existing Prologis Park Marston Gate site and that the site already benefits from key infrastructure to allow the delivery of the site. Prologis considers that the expansion site is both sustainable and deliverable and meets the requirements of Policy SP1. The site is held within a single land ownership in relation to which Prologis has a controlling interest and the site is wholly deliverable in the short term on this basis. The Council’s spatial strategy also requires “the delivery of spatial options and strategic opportunities that could provide for longer term economic and housing growth at Tempsford, Biggleswade and in the Marston Vale.” The strategy states that “this growth must be supported by; “new strategic infrastructure particularly…new rail stations/transport interchanges along the East West Rail route a Ridgmont, Wixams and north of Sandy.” In light of this, Prologis would like to highlight that ongoing discussions are occurring between Prologis and the developers of the proposed Land at Boughton End Farm, which is located directly to the north of the proposed expansion site. Land at Boughton End Farm is being considered for allocation within the Local Plan for residential and mixed residential use (Ref. No NLP177). Prologis and the developers of Land at Boughton End Farm are exploring potential opportunities to secure direct public transport linkages between both site allocations, which would link to and enhance the functionality of Ridgmont railway station. This would ensure the delivery of new transport