Issue - meetings

To endorse the Office Needs Assessment which assesses the need to accommodate office requirements in the Town Centre.

(Report attached – Appendices available through the internet and in Group Rooms)

RECOMMENDED that

the Office Needs Assessment, as attached as Appendix A to the report, be endorsed as part of the Council’s Local Development Framework Evidence Base.

Members considered a report which sought endorsement of an Office Needs Assessment that had been jointly produced by Officers of the Council and GVA Grimley.  Officers reported that the study would form part of the evidence base for the Core Strategy Development Plan document.

Members were informed that the Office Needs Assessment had included four key stages as follows:

1)                 a Survey of Existing Occupiers;

2)                 an Assessment of Floorspace in Redditch town centre;

3)                 a Property Market Review; and

4)                 the Need for Additional Floorspace.

The key issues arising from these stages were:

a)                 the town centre was an attractive location for the Office market with:

i)                  affordable rent levels;

ii)                flexible accommodation; and

iii)              location accessible to main transport routes.

b)                 since January 2000 to March 2009 there had been a gradual increase of office lettings – the average take up being around 3,800 sq.m per annum, the freehold sales market was more limited;

c)                  currently 28% of the total stock was vacant, the highest level in a decade;

d)                 achieving the WMRSS target of 45,000 sq.m would be challenging given the limited about of demand for such a high level of office floorspace in the town centre and peripheral zone;

e)                 the town centre and peripheral zone could only accommodate half of this requirement;

f)                    a revised office target of 30,000 sq.m over the Plan period was recommended;

g)                 the study identified some potential sites which could accommodate around 22,000 sq.m, which would mean identifying an additional 2.3ha outside the town centre / peripheral zone in order to achieve the 30,000 sq.m requirement;

h)                  in order to attract a wider office market, which traditionally had not wanted to locate in the Borough, marketing of the town centre would be fundamental to its success;

i)                    the Council should focus on regional and sub-regional public sector organisations when identifying potential occupiers of office accommodation in the town centre;

j)                    a wider range of ‘office products’ would be required, i.e. new, modern office buildings with flexible space capable of accommodating medium to large businesses.

k)                  support from Economic Development would be required in order to ensure a holistic approach is used in identifying the types of sectors that should be focused upon in the town centre; and

l)                    in order to achieve the challenging office requirement policy would need to set precedence over competing uses, e.g. residential and leisure in the town centre.

The Chair of the Planning Advisory Panel (PAP) reported that the draft report had been presented to the Panel and had been discussed at length.  He informed Members that a number of key points, which had arisen in these discussions, had been included in the final report.

RECOMMENDED that

the Office Needs Assessment, as attached at Appendix A to the report, be endorsed as part of the Council’s Local Development Framework Evidence Base.