Fareham Local Development Framework

Employment Land Review

Executive Summary

The Employment Land Review assesses both existing and potential employment land to ensure that the borough has a stock of suitable sites for business to support the local economy up to 2026.

Since PPG3 has required the review of non-housing allocations to consider whether some of this land might better be used for housing or mixed use developments it has become necessary to re-assess the employment allocations within the Fareham Borough Local Plan Review.

Subsequently the government has issued guidance on undertaking Employment Land Reviews, which follows a three stage process:

Stage 1 – Taking stock of the existing situation
Stage 2 – Creating a picture of future requirements
Stage 3 – Identifying a ‘new’ portfolio of sites.

The review therefore looks at trends within the global, national, regional and local economies, taking on board the findings from a number of studies carried out for the South Hampshire Sub Region through the Partnership of Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) as well as for the borough. Locally it examines trends in the completion of new business floor-space, losses to other uses, vacancy rates and other matters that help to inform future need.

In response to concerns regarding losses of employment floorspace, expressed by PUSH and reflected in the draft South East Plan, the study reviews all existing employment sites. In addition to allocations, the Review assesses all areas currently in business uses, regardless of whether they are currently protected for business use in the Local Plan.

Quality assessments of sites have included a review of their character and amenities, location, quality of site & premises, access arrangements and availability. Sites have been scored accordingly according to their suitability for both offices and for industrial/warehousing uses.

The Review identifies those that should be safeguarded for continued employment use and those which have the potential for more intensified use to provide additional floorspace and increase the number of jobs on site. The study also makes some recommendations regarding potential additional sites.

In addition to making some assumptions as to the overall employment floorspace needs of the borough within the period 2006 to 2026, the study considers the balance between requirements to different types of floorspace and the extent to which this may be accommodated in sustainable locations in accordance with government, regional and sub-regional policy. These estimates will need to be revisited in the light of work being undertaken by PUSH to determine district floorspace figures.

In conjunction with the Urban Housing Potential Study in particular, the review also considers opportunities for employment floorspace within mixed use developments in Fareham Town Centre.

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