Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

8. Sandwell's Economy

Introduction

8.1 The policies in this chapter are concerned with promoting and supporting employment in manufacturing, research and development (Use Class E(g)(ii), E(g)(iii) and B2), warehousing (Use Class B8) and other uses that are appropriately located in industrial employment areas.

8.2 Offices (Use Class E(g)(i)) are not classed as an employment use for the purposes of these policies; they are covered by Policies SCE1 - SCE7, which relate to uses that are more appropriately located in town centres.

8.3 The evidence base for the employment land policies primarily consists of a two-stage Economic Development Needs Assessment (EDNA)^[139], and the Sandwell Employment Area Review (SEAR) formerly the Black Country Employment Area Review (BEAR)^[140]. The EDNA provides an objective assessment of the employment land requirement for Sandwell to 2041, based upon an independent assessment of the area's economic development needs.

8.4 The key conclusions of the EDNA studies are:

1. Sandwell forms part of the Black Country Functional Economic Area (FEMA) and is a clearly defined geographical unit. It has strong employment and labour market links to a hinterland that includes southern Staffordshire, north Worcestershire, Birmingham, and Solihull;
2. Sandwell has an employment land shortfall, which will be met through the Black Country FEMA^[141] and the Duty to Co-operate with those neighbouring Local Authority Areas identified as having a strong or moderate relationship with the Black Country FEMA and other areas with an evidenced functional relationship.
3. Sandwell has been hit hard by the COVID19 recession but is expected to recover strongly and has the capacity to deliver significant growth, given the diversity, resilience and concentration of key national sectors located in the area;
4. even pre-COVID19, recent growth was achieved against a backdrop of a weak local skills base, low business start-up rates and low GVA per head in comparison with the West Midlands and UK averages;
5. economic development strategies including the Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) and Local Industrial Strategy seek to address these challenges to accelerate the growth of the local economy;
6. Sandwell's employment land supply in 2020 was largely that inherited from the Black Country Core Strategy and the suite of Tier 2 Plans that supported it. This land supply is dominated by small sites in the urban area. The plan will allocate 1,206ha of occupied employment land for strategic, local or other employment provision;
7. going forward, attracting high-growth knowledge-based industries in line with SEP ambitions will require the provision of more prestigious sites, high-quality space with easy access to key transport hubs and good connectivity;
8. the Plan also needs to ensure Sandwell can accommodate a variety of business needs, including start-ups and smaller businesses. This means that a mixed portfolio of sites will need to be made available, including larger and smaller sites and spaces, and areas of both higher and lower quality;
9. it is imperative to protect the existing supply of land to meet future needs that will arise from a high growth-driven economy;
10. there is a significant gap between the employment land supply, inherited from the Core Strategy and subsequent Tier 2 Plans, and forecast future needs.

8.5 To address these issues, the strategy that underpins the SLP policies contains the following objectives:

1. to facilitate the growth and diversification of the economy, the Plan allocates land for new development within Sandwell to accommodate jobs and output growth (Policy SDS1);
2. to accommodate a variety of business needs including high technology manufacturing and logistics sectors, the Plan provides for a balanced portfolio of sites (Policy SEC1);
3. to protect and enhance land and premises within existing employment areas where this provides for the needs of jobs and businesses (Policies SEC2, SEC3 and SEC4);
4. to recognise that some sites will become unsuitable for continued employment uses and to facilitate their redevelopment to alternative uses including housing (Policy SEC4). However, the number of such sites is expected to be considerably less than was envisaged by the Black Country Core Strategy adopted in 2011;
5. to enable local communities to share the benefits of economic growth (Policy SEC5).

8.6 The spatial strategy in relation to employment land is to focus new development to sites within the Regeneration Areas as set out in Policy SDS2. This will be achieved through the development of currently vacant sites allocated for development in the Plan, and the redevelopment and 'intensification' of existing premises. The great majority of existing employment areas which accommodate most of the Sandwell's existing manufacturing and logistics jobs and businesses are also located within the Regeneration Area.