Knowsley Replacement Unitary Development Plan - Knowsley Council
Knowsley Replacement Unitary Development Plan - Knowsley Council
Knowsley Replacement Unitary Development Plan - Knowsley Council
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT<br />
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT<br />
compared to the period 1996 to 1999 indicates how<br />
most of the largest and most easily developed sites<br />
have now been developed. Possibly reflecting the<br />
more restricted supply of larger sites with good<br />
ground conditions and without ownership,<br />
contamination, access and infrastructure problems,<br />
the rate of development in the period 2000 to 2004<br />
has been much less than that which occurred<br />
previously. The currently available sites also do not<br />
include any sites within the largest size range<br />
(over 20 hectares).<br />
6.14<br />
Several sites suffer from being a small or irregular<br />
size, have inadequate accommodation or are<br />
contaminated. However, it is not appropriate to<br />
allocate land currently outside of the urban area<br />
(i.e. Green Belt land) for employment uses given the<br />
findings of the Merseyside Green Belt study (see<br />
chapter 9, "Green Belt and the Rural Economy").<br />
During the plan period employment land will be<br />
monitored in terms of the supply and demand of<br />
different types, sizes and locations of land and<br />
buildings and this will be taken into account by the<br />
<strong>Council</strong> in producing successor documents to<br />
this UDP.<br />
STRATEGIC EMPLOYMENT LOCATIONS<br />
6.15<br />
The Strategic Employment Locations, within which<br />
employment uses will be concentrated in the <strong>Plan</strong><br />
period, are identified in section 1 of policy EC1.<br />
They are the most sustainable locations for<br />
employment uses as they have good existing<br />
infrastructure, particularly public transport and<br />
strategic road links, are within or adjacent to the<br />
urban area and mostly constitute brownfield land.<br />
Furthermore, they are appropriate for employment<br />
use due to their segregation from residential areas,<br />
which reduces impacts on residential amenity.<br />
They all fall within the Objective 1 Strategic<br />
Investment Areas in which Objective 1 funding will be<br />
concentrated in the period to 2006.<br />
6.16<br />
Each of the Strategic Employment Locations<br />
provides its own specific opportunities which are<br />
summarised below:<br />
• Huyton Business Park<br />
Business or industrial uses which would<br />
enhance a gateway location near to the<br />
M62/M57 interchange.<br />
• South Prescot Action Area - Areas A and C<br />
Re-development in area A to provide B1, B2<br />
and/or B8 uses and in area C to provide one or<br />
more of the following uses: business and<br />
residential uses.<br />
• Halewood<br />
New large-scale industrial or warehousing uses,<br />
particularly those which would benefit from<br />
proximity to Liverpool John Lennon airport, the<br />
railway and/or strategic road freight networks.<br />
• <strong>Knowsley</strong> Business Park<br />
New business, industrial or storage uses which<br />
are compatible with a high quality landscaped<br />
Business Park.<br />
• <strong>Knowsley</strong> Industrial Park<br />
New business, industrial and/or storage uses,<br />
particularly those which would benefit from<br />
proximity to the strategic road freight network,<br />
and/or to the <strong>Knowsley</strong> Rail Freight Terminal.<br />
• Kings Business Park<br />
New business or hotel uses, and suitable<br />
industrial uses, which are compatible with a<br />
high quality Business Park setting and with<br />
the designation of the site as a Regional<br />
Investment Site.<br />
6.17<br />
Although most opportunities for new employment<br />
uses are located in the Strategic Employment<br />
Locations, the <strong>Council</strong> considers that some new<br />
smaller scale employment uses could be located<br />
outside such areas. Appropriate locations for<br />
small-scale managed workspace schemes to<br />
encourage the establishment of new businesses may<br />
include town, district and local shopping centres.<br />
Specific opportunities have been identified for the<br />
provision of managed workspaces in North Huyton<br />
New Deal for Communities area, South Prescot,<br />
Kings Business Park and the Ravenscourt district<br />
centre in Halewood. Such uses would however need<br />
to comply with <strong>Plan</strong> policies regarding these<br />
locations. Employment uses falling within Use Class<br />
B1 (see “definition of employment uses” above) are<br />
the most appropriate for any location which is close<br />
to primarily residential areas, having, by definition,<br />
no impact in terms of visual appearance, noise,<br />
vibration, odour, atmospheric pollution or<br />
other nuisance.<br />
6.18<br />
Offices can create a large amount of traffic and<br />
increase the vitality and viability of town centres.<br />
A sequential approach to their location should be<br />
taken, with town centre sites being considered first,<br />
then edge of centre, and finally Strategic Employment<br />
Locations. A proposal for an office development in an<br />
out of centre location must be accompanied by a<br />
supporting statement providing evidence that a<br />
sequential approach to site selection has been taken.<br />
Policy S8 (Location of <strong>Development</strong> for Town Centre<br />
Uses) provides more information about the sequential<br />
approach to the location of development.<br />
6.19<br />
Change of use or re-development of a site or<br />
premises currently in employment use to a<br />
non-employment use will generally be resisted.<br />
Exceptions may be made, however, if it is<br />
demonstrated that there is no current or likely future<br />
demand of the land or premises for employment use,<br />
or that there would be significant regeneration,<br />
environmental or amenity benefits. In the case of the<br />
former, the applicant will need to provide evidence<br />
that the land or premises has been actively marketed<br />
at a realistic market rate for a period of at least<br />
six months.<br />
6.20<br />
Proposals that conflict with a regeneration strategy<br />
approved by <strong>Knowsley</strong> MBC will not be permitted.<br />
The A580 Corridor Improvement Strategy, for<br />
example, includes environmental improvements such<br />
as new hard and soft landscaping in an effort to<br />
improve the physical environment of the A580 in<br />
order to attract new investment. <strong>Development</strong> that<br />
would detract from these efforts will therefore<br />
not be permitted.<br />
6.21<br />
Compulsory Purchase Orders may be necessary to<br />
assemble the land or obtain properties required for a<br />
regeneration or development scheme. Land and/or<br />
buildings may be required for various reasons, such<br />
as allowing comprehensive development, to ensure<br />
that a scheme is large enough to be viable or to<br />
enable access to another site.<br />
6.22<br />
All development needs to be appropriate in terms of<br />
other <strong>Plan</strong> policies, and in the case of employment<br />
development, the following policy areas are<br />
particularly important:<br />
• Design quality - Building design, site layout,<br />
effect on the amenity of neighbours;<br />
• Transport - ensuring choice of travel to new<br />
developments and impact on road traffic;<br />
• Environmental protection and nature<br />
conservation.<br />
POLICY LINKS<br />
Policy EC2<br />
“Sites allocated for employment development”<br />
Policy EC4<br />
“Regional Investment Site: Kings Business Park”<br />
Policy DQ1<br />
“Design Quality in New <strong>Development</strong>”<br />
Policy T5<br />
“Ensuring a choice of travel to serve new<br />
developments”<br />
54<br />
KNOWSLEY REPLACEMENT UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN: Adopted June 2006<br />
KNOWSLEY REPLACEMENT UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN: Adopted June 2006<br />
55