Additional Employment Sites

13.6 For Bury St Edmunds to fulfil its role as a sub-regional centre and as a location for major growth, there is a need to release significant amounts of additional employment land in town. As well as meeting general demand for employment, there is also a need to compensate for the relocation of existing business uses where sites are redeveloped for housing and other uses.

13.7 A look at probable development rates up to 2016 shows that a further 29 hectares of employment land will be needed to maintain current development rates as well as the 21.89 hectares of undeveloped employment land presently in the town. However, as well as an allowance for the relocation of businesses affected by brownfield redevelopment, there is also a need to plan for additional land. This additional land will help in securing research and technology development related to the Cambridge-Ipswich corridor, compliant with regional and Suffolk economic development strategies, and will also help to claw back some of the workers currently commuting to areas outside the borough to work.

13.8 Table 3 below provides background on the level of employment land which is considered necessary to sustain growth in the town's economy to 2016.

Table 3 - Projected Employment Land Requirements Factor Scale

13.9 Bury St Edmunds is in a highly advantageous position to expand and add to its business and industrial parks. Sites will be needed to accommodate a range of uses including a high quality, research park, an industrial park for general manufacturing, distribution and office uses, and a site for industrial uses which require low value land. Provision for further expansion of the Suffolk Business Park is made in Policy BSE3 and this will be expected to accommodate companies seeking a high profile location for Class B1 and B8 planning uses.

13.10 Government Guidance in Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres requires all town centre uses to be subject to certain tests as set out in Policy TCR1 of this Plan. Town centre uses includes offices and therefore all office proposals will be required to satisfy the relevant requirements of Policy TCR1.