A new way to evaluate the employment and economic impacts of a development?

Viable Placemaking, a town planning consultancy with a specialism in development economics and viability, has recently spearheaded a groundbreaking ‘Employment Land and Economic Impact Assessment’ – reframing the way employment land reviews and economic impact assessment may be considered, combined, and evaluated as part of development proposals.

Development economics is considered at all stages of the planning process – from plan making to decision making. A development’s employment and economic impacts are frequently considered as part of planning applications and appeals, but can also be done for retrospective developments. This was the case in a recent enforcement appeal, regarding the unauthorised use for storage and distribution (Use Class B8) of land adjacent to an existing logistics company in the South East.

Following an enforcement notice being served on the site and, despite an extensive site history, the wider employment and economic impacts of the site and existing business had not been considered. As part of the Ground (a) appeal under Section 174 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the appellants sought to demonstrate the employment and economic impacts of the development.

As a result, a new ‘Employment Land and Economic Impact Assessment’ was prepared, and fully connected multiple strands of economic development analysis to provide an overarching assessment of the development. The report offers a data-driven, policy aware assessment of how the development affects local economies and employment in the local area.

Initially, the Assessment reviews and establishes national and local policy, then set the scene under which the economic impacts will be considered. This includes a comprehensive review of the Local Planning Authority’s evidence base and, in this case, found that – although the plan was justified at the time of adoption – the evidence was dated and no longer reflected the local employment land scene, particularly with regard to storage and distribution centres.

Analysis of the functional economic market area implications, local economic baseline, and market performance, found a significant demand for Use Class B8 land in the LPA and wider economic market area.

Additionally, a sequential test approach of alternative sites found that none were suitable – highlighting the strategic importance of the existing site and why this ought to be given significant weight in an appeal decision.

The next step was to conduct an economic impact assessment of a typical development/use at the site, against which the existing site could be benchmarked. This found that the existing business was performing well in excess of what might typically be expected of a similar use at the site. This was given substantial weight within the planning balance.

Rather than relying on theoretical models or standard economic analysis methods, this assessment combined real business data, market trends, regional economic context, and planning policy expertise to amalgamate a robust case assessment.

Following thorough review of the employment land supply, planning policy, and wider economic market context, the assessment recommended supporting and intensifying existing use to support economic growth and align with national growth goals.

It is not common to combine the plan-making approach to reviewing employment land needs with a non-strategic development for economic-led schemes. While this is frequently done within housing land supply reviews – evaluating local delivery and needs in the context of a development and planning weight – this approach has been extremely strong in this Assessment and could certainly be adopted in other similar developments across the UK.

Adam Place is Director of Viable Placemaking.

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