Employment Strategy

4.12 For the purposes of the Replacement Local Plan, employment areas are defined as land and buildings which are used or allocated for purposes within use Class B1 (business), Class B2 (general industrial) and Class B8 (storage or distribution) and other uses of employment character.

4.13 Where suitable, brownfield land will be identified for employment uses. This includes vacant land on existing employment areas and specific allocations for mixed developments, including office development on town centre sites. The Borough Council recognises, however, that, both Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill must be able to provide prestige sites in high quality settings to fulfil their role in meeting regional and county objectives for sustainable economic growth.

4.14 Given the limited number of brownfield sites and the priority for 40% of new housing to be built on brownfield sites in Suffolk, it will be necessary to identify greenfield land for future employment development. In releasing greenfield land the Borough Council expects prospective developers of these areas to ensure that proposals are accessible by a choice of transport and include measures to make sure there is no undesirable impact on the environment.

4.15 The Borough Council will make provision for strategic business development that could contribute towards meeting the region’s need for good quality employment floorspace. Locations are identified on the Proposals Map in Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill for employment land including offices, research and development, high tech premises and high quality light industrial uses. The strategic site at Suffolk Business Park will extend the supply of employment land beyond the current plan period but this is justified by the early provision of important infrastructure and the supply of quality, well serviced sites well located within the Borough and the region. Proposals for B1 office uses on the strategic sites in Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill will be subject to the sequential test as set out in Policy TCR1. The Rural Service Centres are also expected to provide opportunities for local employment to increase the sustainability of these villages. Given the accessible nature of these sites it also expected that some of these sites will be able to accommodate quality distribution and warehouse uses and may be able to demonstrate suitability for office development after application of the sequential test.

4.16 The employment areas identified on the Proposals Map provide sustainable and appropriate locations for industrial and business use. They ensure that sensitive land uses, and the environment generally, are not adversely affected by the need to accommodate significant levels of employment development over the period to 2016. Within these employment areas the Borough Council will seek the optimum use of land unless there are likely to be environmental problems.

4.17 When considering proposals within employment areas, the Borough Council will make sure that a range of unit and plot sizes is available so the needs of all types of business can be met. This will include the provision of small starter units (less than 250sq. metres) as well as adequate land and premises for expanding and incoming businesses. Small shared service units are also important to the local economy and the Borough Council will encourage the provision of smaller sharing schemes within employment areas.

4.18 Alternative uses on employment areas: In the strategic employment areas identified in part 2, proposals for retail, leisure and vehicle sales uses will not be permitted. Within the other general employment areas ancillary and alternative uses, including ancillary and alternative leisure uses such as go-karting which would not be able to locate in town centres because of their size and the nature of activities undertaken, will be considered against national planning policy and this Plan's policies.