Planning for New Jobs

Planning for New Jobs Local Plan Objective 7 Aim: To grow and diversify the economy by delivering the right employment opportunities in the right places, supporting economic growth, productivity, regenerating towns, and villages, and enabling delivery of education, training and skills to enhance the employability of Buckinghamshire residents. a) Enhance our economic assets by supporting Enterprise Zones, strategic and key employment areas. b) Support and enhance Buckinghamshire’s specialisms and strengths in high performance technology, space, film and high-end television, life sciences and medical tech sectors, including through appropriate skills and education provision. c) Designate employment spaces that support a diverse range of commercial activity, from high quality offices to local workshops. d) Seek opportunities to link residential and commercial development to encourage local living. e) Locate new employment spaces close to good transport connections to ensure residents have access to viable public transport options. f) Support the repurposing and regeneration of town centres and villages for a diverse range of uses. g) Support a sustainable rural economy including sustainable agriculture and farm diversification and safeguard food security. 4.25 Buckinghamshire has a strong and diverse economy which has delivered sustained growth in recent years, with nationally significant strengths in sectors including high-performance technology, medical technologies, space innovation, advanced engineering, and the creative and digital industries. The Local Plan will support these sectors by providing the land, premises and infrastructure needed to enable businesses to invest, innovate and grow. , 4.26 The Local Plan will deliver sufficient employment land and premises to support economic growth, with evidence indicating a need for circa 100 hectares of employment land over the plan period. The evidence shows that there will continue to be strong demand for industrial, logistics, research and development, manufacturing and other modern economy uses, with much of the future requirement being for industrial and warehousing floorspace. While changes in working patterns have altered demand for traditional office accommodation, there remains a need for high-quality office, laboratory, innovation and flexible workspace in accessible locations. Existing employment commitments, allocations and vacant premises will contribute towards meeting this requirement, but additional employment land allocations are necessary to provide a choice of sites across Buckinghamshire and to meet the differing locational requirements of businesses. The Local Plan therefore seeks both to protect existing employment areas and to facilitate the delivery of new employment opportunities in sustainable locations. 4.27 National policy requires local planning authorities to make provision for the needs of modern economy sectors and to support economic growth and productivity. Buckinghamshire has strong potential to accommodate a range of modern economy uses, including data centres, research and development activities, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, laboratories, and businesses supporting the transition to low-carbon technologies, including electric vehicle battery technologies. The continued modernisation of industrial and distribution premises is also important to meet changing business needs. The Plan supports investment in these sectors by enabling the delivery, renewal and intensification of employment premises and infrastructure that can respond to technological innovation and evolving market requirements, alongside the provision of new employment locations capable of meeting future business needs.