Camborne Pool Illogan & Redruth CNA Employment Evidence Report May 2017 (THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY BLANK) 2 Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 4 2. CPIR Background .......................................................................................................................... 5 3. Required Employment Space at CPIR (2010-2030) ...................................................................... 6 a) LP:SP Employment Requirement (2010-2030) ............................................................................. 6 b) Employment developments completed (2010-2015) .................................................................. 6 c) Permitted employment developments (1st April 2015) ............................................................... 8 d) Other capacity (i.e. in existing employment sites and/or sites identified through the Cornwall Employment Sites Study (2012)). ................................................................................................. 8 e) The amount of space that needs to be accommodated through site allocation(s) ................... 12 4. Safeguarded Employment Sites ................................................................................................. 13 5. Urban Extension Employment Site Identification ...................................................................... 15 i. The Urban Extension Assessment .............................................................................................. 16 ii. Sustainability Appraisal (SA) ....................................................................................................... 24 iii. Site Prioritisation Assessment .................................................................................................... 24 iv. Proposed Sites ............................................................................................................................ 29 6. Site Allocations (Employment Space) at CPIR ............................................................................ 30 7. CPIR’s Employment Trajectory ................................................................................................... 32 Appendix 1: SA Tables .......................................................................................................................... 33 3 1. Introduction Cornwall’s Local Plan: Strategic Policies Development Plan Document (LP:SP) sets out that the Camborne-Pool-Illogan-Redruth (CPIR) Community Network Area (CNA) should plan to accommodate 122,250sqm of employment space (B1, B2 and B8 use classes only), through the plan period (2010-30), with this equating to 80,833sqm of office space and 41,417sqm of industrial space. In support of this, the Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) (and associated CPIR Framework Plan ), sets out how CPIR plans to accommodate this strategic employment growth for the CNA. This employment evidence report documents the evidence setting out how the strategic employment growth requirement for CPIR CNA is planned to be accommodated in and adjoining the conurbation of CPIR. In identifying how this growth will be accommodated consideration is given to two aspects: i. Whether the sites identified meet the required capacity, set by the LP:SP; and, ii. Whether the sites identified are compatible with the economic strategy for the conurbation (e.g. sites located at the end of a narrow road network would not be ideally suited for a town wishing to attract more distribution companies to the area). It is important to note that this work focuses on sites appropriate to accommodate strategic growth and does not consider smaller scale sites (e.g. less than 0.5 Hectare1). Smaller scale sites will also contribute to growth and can be either identified through a local level Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) or proposals addressed through the usual planning application procedure. The structure of this report is as follows: Section 2 of this report presents background information, providing the context to CPIR and the aspirations for its local economy. Section 3 sets out an employment capacity review for the conurbation. By establishing this capacity, it is then possible to calculate how much additional land needs to be identified to accommodate employment uses as site allocations, within the Site Allocations DPD. This section includes a consideration of, where urban sites are identified, whether these are appropriate for the types of employment envisaged. Section 4 sets out the existing strategic level employment sites within CPIR that meet the criteria within Policy 5 of the Cornwall Local Plan Strategic Policies document, which should be safeguarded within the Cornwall Allocations DPD. Section 5 of this report considers the identification of appropriate sites to be allocated for employment growth to meet the requirement arrived at in Section 3. This section refers to work previously undertaken as part of an Urban Extension Assessment for CPIR (which was also used to determine appropriate sites to accommodate future housing and mixed use developments); reviews aspects which may influence the potential of a site to accommodate employment uses (for example, 1 The threshold of 0.5Ha is chosen in order that no site is assessed that does not present an opportunity to deliver at least 2,000sqm of employment space as, for the purposes of this work, a site which would deliver less than 2,000sqm is not considered to be of a significant enough scale to be classed as a Strategic Employment Site Allocation (the Cornwall Employment Land Review 2010 (available at www.cornwall.gov) sets out that 1Ha of land can be assumed to deliver 4,000sqm of employment space (either industrial or office) and, following means testing by the Council in 2016, this assumption is considered to remain a robust position for Cornwall). 4 if recent planning approvals impact a site); and, considers the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of the potential sites in order to help determine the most appropriate areas to be allocated. Section 6 then examines the employment sites arrived at through Section 5, considering these in more detail. Specific constraints, opportunities and mitigation aspects for each site are highlighted, which should inform both policy development and future planning proposals on these sites. Section 7 concludes this report and presents the employment trajectory for CPIR, setting out how the target of 122,250sqm of employment space (2010-2030) is planned to be delivered. 2. CPIR Background CPIR’s ambition is to become one of Cornwall’s most important economic centres, delivering more, higher quality employment opportunities for its local residents. These aspirations are supported by the Cornwall Employment Land Review which indicates that the CPIR-Truro Travel to Work Area represents Cornwall’s greatest opportunity to deliver economic growth. CPIR’s employment opportunities have traditionally focused on industrial, retail and service industries – predominately in the lower paying sectors. While recognising the continued importance of these industries in providing important employment opportunities, there is an aspiration to broaden CPIR’s economic base; in doing so tapping into underrepresented sectors such as the creative industries, digital economy, advanced manufacturing and elements of the tourism industry. Truro currently represents Cornwall’s only location for significant office development. However, there is an opportunity for CPIR to develop this sector, with its good transport links; access to serviced sites; and a good supply of labour. Furthermore, CPIR can offer business relocating from outside of Cornwall Superfast Broadband, in doing so overcoming many disadvantages of CPIR’s peripheral location compared with other regional, national and international markets. The development of the Pool Innovation Centre for emerging high growth, office based, businesses has demonstrated the demand that exists for space. Furthermore, with the Innovation Centre’s tenants only being able to occupy space for up to three years, it is recognised that other good quality office space is needed to ensure they remain within the area. In seeking to achieve this, the delivery of ‘Grow-on space’ is required. Furthermore, a niche has developed within the Pool Innovation Centre relating to businesses operating within the digital economy. An opportunity exists to retain and build upon this cluster by developing workspace with ultra-fast broadband connectivity, in doing so attracting companies whose operations rely upon the speed of connectivity. CPIR has a relatively significant manufacturing base, so there is an aspiration to build upon this with the promotion of advanced manufacturing, in doing so supporting the aspiration for a higher skilled / better paid workforce. The creative industries, particularly relating to aspects such as arts & crafts, is an industry cluster that can also be developed. Redruth now has ‘Krowji’, a centre offering studios, workspaces, offices, meeting rooms and other facilities for many creative businesses and individuals; this centre can be used as a catalyst to further enhance this sector. The growth of this sector could also provide opportunities to develop complementary opportunities to strengthen the Redruth’s town centre offer. 5 Due to CPIR’s inland location it has never represented one of Cornwall’s natural tourism destinations.