RSS East Of England Plan - Broads Authority

East of England Plan 87
POLICY ETG5: Employment-Generating Development
Local Development Documents should provide an enabling context for not less than 55,000 net additional jobs in
Essex Thames Gateway during the period 2001-2021, distributed as follows:
Basildon 11,000
Castle Point 2,000
Southend 13,000
Thurrock 26,000
Rochford 3,000
Total 55,000
The local authorities and Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, supported by regional and local
partners, should facilitate these increases in jobs by promoting a competitive sub-regional business environment
secured through:
• providing for a range of sites and premises suitable for the needs of existing and future businesses, including the
development at London Gateway (a new container port facility with associated business park and rail freight
handling facilities) and other sites that will support Thurrock’s role as a leading logistics centre;
• providing innovation centres at the key centres for development and change;
• improving opportunities for small and medium enterprises in all economic sectors, especially transport and
logistics, environmental technologies, healthcare, tourism and leisure;
• raising skill levels at NVQ Level 2, 3 and 4 to national averages through enhanced provision of further and higher
education;
• focusing major retail, leisure and office developments at Basildon, Southend, Lakeside and other centres in
need of regeneration and renewal; and
• enhancing use of the River Thames as an asset for business and leisure.
13.20 Currently the sub-region has about 300,000 residents in employment but a workforce of only about 233,000, which
highlights the scale of out commuting, particularly to London. It also points to underlying weaknesses in the sub-region’s
economic structure in terms of the quantity, quality and range of job opportunities. Improved alignment between homes
and workplaces will result in a reduction in the proportion, if not necessarily the number, of the resident workforce who
commute to London. The targets in Policy ETG5 are an apportionment of the job figure for Essex Thames Gateway in
Policy E1 on the basis of a district level assessment. Southend Airport is a major employment location but no separate job
growth target is available for it and so a target for Rochford as a whole is included.
13.21 The emphasis on improving skills and qualifications is particularly important in Essex Thames Gateway. Up-skilling will
also enable those residents who commute to London to both contribute more to and benefit more from growth in
London’s economy.
POLICY ETG6: Transport Infrastructure
Proposals for future transport infrastructure improvements should reflect the prioritised schemes in the Thames
Gateway South Essex Business Plan for Transport, 2005. Proposals serving the sub-region as a whole should
contribute to ensuring high quality links between the key centres.