Tameside Industrial and Commercial Land Supply

Interim Situation Report September 2009

For the purposes of this report, employment uses are B1 (business), B2 (general industry) and B8 (storage and distribution) plus sui generis commercial uses which have similar characteristics to industry or storage.

The total supply of land available for development for employment purposes in Tameside on 30th September 2009 was 67.17 hectares. This is a reduction on the year end supply figure for 2008/09 of 71.22 hectares.

These supply figure consists of:

• Vacant sites that are allocated for employment use, or have permission for employment generating development; and 
• Non-vacant sites that have permission for redevelopment for employment purposes.

Sites are removed from the supply when development is completed or additional information comes forward relating to future prospects.

The inclusion of a site in the available supply does not indicate any intentions of the owner(s) to sell the site or otherwise offer it for development. Much of the supply consists of (a) sites which are unlikely to be brought forward in the short to medium term, or (b) sites whose owners intend to develop for their own purposes.

Of the total supply, 31.16 hectares was classed as ‘immediately available'. This marks a slight decrease on the previous end of year supply of 31.34 hectares. The sites in the immediately available supply were listed in the MIDAS database and were for sale on the open market.

As with the end of year employment land position the reduction in available land supply can be explained by the removal of sites following the continued assessment of the employment land availability schedule.

In particular two sites have been excluded from the employment land supply schedule:

• 4.86 hectare site operated by ABC Wax in Hyde has been removed because the site was listed as available on the MIDAS website for a short period of time and was removed in July 2009; and
• 3.28  hectares at Ashworth Lane/Stockport Road, Hattersley has been removed because although the site is vacant there is no policy justification or planning permission to support inclusion in the employment land supply.

During the six months up to 30th September 2009, 0.95 hectares of land were completed for employment purposes, creating over 6,552 sq m gross of new employment floorspace. The most significant completions were:

• New office development for Findel Education, Ashton Road, Hyde
• Small office development for Premier Waste, Hyde

Four other small sites totalling 0.47 hectares were also removed from the supply due to information obtained regarding their completion between 2007 and 2008. There was also around 4026 sq m of employment generating floorspace under construction on 30th September 2009 on sites which totalled 1.31 hectares of the overall supply.

Planning permission was granted during the 6 months up to 30th September 2009 for schemes totalling approximately 300 sq m of floorspace on around 0.7 hectares of land. These are for smaller developments and infill sites.

The 13 ha plot 3000 on the Regional Strategic Employment Development Site at Ashton Moss remains available. This greenfield site is suitable for a variety of industrial uses, and is the main employment site in the supply.

Take-up has again increased since last year, and is now at its highest level since 2004/5. It is clear that demand for employment land in Tameside was strong up to the end of the 08/09 reporting year. In the 2008/9 year permission was granted for schemes on 6.1 hectares of land, a significant drop from previous years which indicates the impact of the recession.

The supply has steadily decreased from 190 hectares in 1995/6 to 67.17 hectares on 30th September 2009. There is a small amount of employment generating development currently under construction compared to previous years and permissions granted for this are considerably down so it would appear that the true impact of the recession will be reflected when the final figures for 2009/10 are released.

Although some high quality sites are available supply is considered to be limited in the long term. However, it is interesting to note that the immediately available supply remains at a relatively high level despite the removal of the ABC Wax site from the employment land supply.

The Council has completed phase one of an employment land study to assess the stock of employment land in the Borough. CB Richard Ellis have completed additional work for the employment land review and this will be incorporated into the full study produced as part of the LDF Core Strategy evidence base.

The Employment Land Supplementary Planning Document has now been completed and was adopted by the Council in January 2009. This provides more detailed guidance on the development of employment land.

View the list of sites in the employment land supply 30th September 2009