Employment Land Workshop
Employment Land Workshop 1 November 2007
Workshop results and ideas map
On 1 November 2007 Havant Borough Council held
in association with the Hampshire Economic Forum, an Employment
Land Workshop with the aim of contributing to the evidence base
that underpins the Havant Local Development Framework (
LDF
).
The Employment Land Workshop sought to engage
with key business interests and thereby help to gain a better
understanding of the needs and perceptions of the local economy –
and the development issues that might arise. Representatives were
present from a range of relevant backgrounds: Business, Business
Organisations, Property Agents, Planning Consultants, Developers
and the Public Sector.
Employment Land Presentation (pdf file
687kb)
(If this information is difficult to read we can provide it in
another format, e.g. in braille, large print, on audio tape or in
another language. To request any of these formats please
contact Customer Services on 02392 446015)
Contributors were divided into four discussion
groups to consider:
- Issues in the Local Economy
- Maximising Existing
Assets
- Identifying a
Spatial Strategy
The Local Economy
Headline issues (mentioned by more than one
group)
- Upskilling and Retraining: Ever increasing
focus on the knowledge economy and increasing the size of the
business services sector means ensuring that greater sections of
the workforce attain NVQ4 and NVQ2 level qualifications.
- Flexibility across the Use Classes: Modern
business is tending to require operating space that mixes
traditional uses i.e. an advanced manufacturer needing office
space, or a distribution company requiring research and development
space.
In addition:
- There was a strong awareness that one of the
Borough’s key strengths is the strategic advantage of its road and
rail network, which offers good connectivity - especially to the
London area. However, Havant Rail Station is considered in bad need
of revitalisation.
- At a secondary level it was noted that a
range of more localised links ought to be improved:
- Generally between Waterlooville
and the Brambles business area, and between Havant and the
Broadmarsh and New Lane business areas.
- The A3(M) junction for
Waterlooville was considered inadequate to ensure the success of
business ventures at Newlands the Major Development Area
(MDA) to the west
of the town.
- Similarly it was felt that
junction improvements would be needed along the London Road,
Waterlooville.
- For the future, ease of access
between the Dunsbury Hill business development area and long-term
plans for a storage reservoir at Havant Thicket was also considered
important.
- There were number of comments about business
space matters and the overall image of the Borough:
- The success of initiatives like
Langstone Gate needed to be consolidated and replicated in other
places so as to ensure the long-term viability of the local
office-based economy.
- Generally smaller units were
deemed more appropriate for the town centres; larger ones should be
located in proximity to the strategic road network.
- The Dunsbury Hill development
area – crucial to future business success – needs to be set off by
a quality landmark feature.
- General feedback tended to
support the notion of marker features right along the strategic
road network – but especially at the main A27 gateway south of
Havant town centre.
- A few comments inferred that the
Borough’s main towns lacked identity.
Maximising Existing Assets
Headline issues (mentioned by more than one
group)
- Natural cycle / Filter-down: One of the
questions the Council posed was how to get the best out of existing
industrial estates. Comments tended to suggest that there was a
natural cycle whereby, essentially, what appear to be less
attractive units and locations actually provide a useful first
location for start-up activities.
- A noteworthy comment that one group in
particular kept returning to was the importance of improving
signage to, and within, industrial estates
Identifying a Spatial Strategy
Headline issues (mentioned by more than one
group). The following list - in order of priority - reflects the
importance that it was felt needed to be given to specific
projects:
- Dunsbury Hill: Opinion was unanimous about the centrality of
this scheme to the Borough’s future economic vibrancy and image as
a business location. In every sense it is considered a priority.
Success here was seen as being a catalyst to improving the
Borough’s two main town centres of Havant and Waterlooville.
- Town Centres: There was widespread support for introducing more
office-type uses into the Borough’s main town centres, but that
this needed to be done in the context of schemes offering a variety
of uses - notably leisure, retail and residential.
- One group also identified the
industrial area of Brockhampton Lane, Havant, to the south-west of
the existing town centre, as having office-led redevelopment
potential.
- Another group articulated
challenges in creating simultaneously a successful MDA at Newlands
and a more vital town centre in Havant. There are issues about the
exact type of uses being promoted that need to be addressed
carefully.
- It was also stated that the MDA
at Newlands needed to be developed against a longer time-horizon so
as not to detract from efforts to create a regionally significant
business location at Dunsbury Hill.
- Broadmarsh: There was general agreement that
development to the west of the existing industrial area would be
desirable, indeed potentially very attractive to the market. The
latter condition is however tied to maximising the coastal aspect
that the location benefits from, and this would imply a marine-led
scheme embracing a marine technologies cluster, with additional
scope northwards to the A27 for numerous uses including
interpretation centre/conference facilities, R&D, office and
industrial uses. Those present generally acknowledged that such a
scheme was ‘for the future’.
- There was also mention of
industrial development at the Forty Acres Farm site south-west of
Bedhampton. This, it was proposed, would be linked to a new Parkway
rail station and associated park and ride facility.
- North Hayling: More than one group identified
the northern part of the island as having potential for optimising
the existing marine sector at Northney. One group identified
synergies between such a proposal and encouraging a marine-led
cluster at Broadmarsh.
Employment land workshop ideas map
