Comment

Bedford Borough Local Plan 2040 Plan for Submission

Representation ID: 9677

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Cloud Wing UK Ltd

Agent: Avison Young

Representation Summary:

In terms of the economy, the proposed vision for the Borough to 2040 focuses on the development of “high quality commercial and office spaces” and attracting “high tech employment sectors, creative industrial and supporting existing retail centres”. Underpinning this vision, ‘Theme 3’ talks about a ‘more prosperous’ Bedford. It states that the Council will “Support a stronger local economy by building on the strengths of the emerging higher value clusters, to become a location for innovative businesses, with a strategically important employment site as a local innovation hub.” It also talks about allocating land to “provide locations for the delivery of high quality jobs”.
2.2 The vision appears to be informed by the Council’s recent ‘Economic Ambitions Topic Paper’ (2022). This Paper sets out an aspiration by the Borough to shift away from large scale logistics developments towards facilitating employment development that will deliver a wider range of what are perceived to be ‘higher value’ jobs in “non-Class B8 sectors” with the aim of developing a “more balanced, productive and, therefore, higher value economy”.
2.3 This aspiration appears to be based on an overly simplistic analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the economy of Bedford that is not grounded in evidence. The assessment is flawed in terms of its characterisation of the recent growth in demand for logistics space in the area as a ‘weakness’ or a ‘threat’ to the Borough (e.g. insufficient local workers to fill vacancies in logistics, reduction in jobs due to automation, logistics leading to a low-productivity economy) rather than a ‘strength’ or an ‘opportunity’ to be maximised.
2.4 The evidence shows that nationally the industrial and logistics sector is highly productive with Gross Value Added (GVA) per job currently at £58,000, some 12% higher than the average of all sectors. Its productivity is also predicted to grow at a faster pace, increasing by 29% between 2025 to 2039 compared to 18% across the UK economy as a whole1. Therefore, the Council’s vision and evidence fails to recognise that the industrial and logistics sector could provide a significant opportunity to boost the productivity of the Borough, where its own evidence indicates that it lags behind
nearby urban centres (Figure 2) and suggests that part of its aim is to reduce the productivity gap between Bedford and Cambridge. Other analysis also shows that local authorities with higher density of logistics have higher GDP per capita than those with lower logistics densities2.
2.5 Cloud Wing is, therefore, concerned that the overall economic vision for the Borough and its overwhelming focus on ‘innovation’ uses appears to be driven by outdated and erroneous perceptions about the industrial and logistics sector, including: the contribution it can make to the wider economy and overall productivity; and the range and quality of jobs that this creates.
2.6 The Government in its recent ‘Future of Freight Plan’ (2022)3 notes that these “negative perceptions of the industry” need to be addressed and “the availability of attractive, fulfilling jobs at all levels of the industry” be promoted. It also confirms that the sector can make a significant contribution to levelling up between areas and acknowledges that there is “increasing sophistication of roles in the sector with Professional and Associate Professional and Technical roles increasing by 331,000 since 2010”. It also confirms that the number of freight and logistics jobs have grown by 26% since 2010, nearly double the rate of the wider economy.
2.7 Indeed, recent reports published by leading bodies including the British Property Federation4 and Frontier Economics5, amongst others, demonstrate that:
• logistics facilities are a fundamental component of effective and efficient supply chains;
• jobs in the sector are well paid, with average pay higher than the UK average;
• industrial and logistics facilities support an increasingly diverse range of jobs, including a growing proportion of graduate, professional and associate professional roles such as software engineers in charge of automated systems, supply chain managers and data analysts, in addition to professional jobs in product design and research & development, in their wider supply chain;
• other office-based roles (e.g. finance, administrative, research and development, sales and marketing, customer services) are also increasingly co-locating with production and logistics as it is convenient for these people to be closer to the operations, further increasing occupational diversity within the sector;
• the sector provides job opportunities that can support improved social mobility, including to those who are currently unemployed and career progression and promotion opportunities for workers with low levels of formal qualifications into managerial roles, which could help address Bedford’s position as one of the more deprived centres within the Arc;
• logistics jobs provide workers with valuable skills and training, including an average of 41,100 new apprenticeships each year nationally, with this forecast to grow to 53,000 new apprenticeships annually; which is equivalent to over half a million apprenticeships over the next 10 years.
2.8 Bedford itself is also a prime location for logistics at the heart of the Golden Triangle (Figure 36) and within the Oxford-Cambridge Arc (‘the Arc’). At 30 miles west of Cambridge, 40 miles east of Oxford, 50 miles north of London and 98 miles east of Felixstowe. The Borough is extremely well connected to the strategic road network via the A421, which connects to M1 to the west and A1 to the east, which in turn provide connections to the M25. This is evidenced by the number of logistics occupiers that have been drawn to the area and which are actively seeking significant amounts of space.
2.9 On this basis, a vision which does not reflect the strengths of Bedford as a location of logistics and the opportunities this presents as a national and regionally significant growth sector, where there is significant market demand, is not justified. It also risks failing to meet needs of a sector that has been identified by the Government in its recent ‘Future of Freight Plan’ (2022) as “critical to every supply chain into, across and out of the UK and is fundamental to our economic wellbeing.” This Plan specifically states that the planning system needs to fully recognise “the needs of the freight and logistics sector now and in the future”. This is a major oversight and risks Bedford failing to meet the needs of a sector which is fundamental to the effective functioning of the economy and conflicting with the Government’s vision for the future of the sector.
2.10 Cloud Wing is also concerned that the overarching economic vision is overly reliant on attracting a significant scale of new innovation businesses to Bedford. This vision appears to be based on the assumption that Bedford would receive a ‘trickle down’ effect from the ‘pent-up demand’ from existing innovation hubs Oxford and Cambridge as a result of the improved connectivity (i.e. East-West Rail). However, there is no apparent strategy for how the Borough would attract the scale of innovative businesses to the Borough and how it would become a “globally competitive location” for innovation as suggested in its evidence.
2.11 The Council’s evidence refers to a relatively small number of examples of innovative businesses located in the Borough but many of these appear to have been operating in the Borough for some time. There does not appear to be a strong anchor within Bedford or a particular strategy proposed that would generate the scale of interest solely in innovation uses that is envisaged and change historic trends.
2.12 Rather than positively and proactively encouraging sustainable economic growth and create an environment in which businesses can invest, expand and adapt, Cloud Wing is concerned that the Plan’s overreliance on innovation uses could fail to build on its strengths and undermine the delivery of sustainable economic growth contrary to Paragraph 81 and 82 of the NPPF.
(see attachment for figures 2 and 3)

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