Policy information sourced from the Bracknell Forest Local Plan 2024-2037 document.

LP 18: Definition and Protection of Designated Employment Areas.

1. Designated Employment Areas as defined on the Policies Map are as follows:

  • Western Employment Area, Western Road, Bracknell
  • Eastern Employment Area, Eastern Road, Bracknell
  • Southern Employment Area, Doncastle Way, Bracknell
  • Wellington Business Park, Dukes Ride, Crowthorne
  • Vulcan Way, Swan Lane, Sandhurst

2. Within the designated Employment Areas the following will be supported:

  • development for business, industry, distribution and storage uses (BIDS);
  • development that will enable existing businesses to expand and/or adapt to changing circumstances; and
  • proposals that meet an evidenced need for a particular type of BIDS development.

3. The sequential test will not be required where new office floorspace is proposed in designated Employment Areas.

4. Development within designated Employment Areas for non-BIDS uses (with the exception of ‘ancillary services’) will be resisted and will be permitted where there is a justification for a departure from this policy following submission of information on, and consideration of, the following matters:

  • impact on the supply (amount, type, quality and use) of BIDS land and premises;
  • evidence of need for the proposed use and the need for it to be located within a designated Employment Area;
  • evidence that the site has been effectively and continuously marketed for BIDS uses through a variety of media for a period of at least 12 months;
  • the relative suitability of the site for BIDS and for the alternative use; and,
  • the location of the site and its relationship to other uses.

5. Ancillary services will be permitted in appropriate locations within designated Employment Areas and other areas provided that they:

  • are small in scale (100m2 or less GEA);
  • support the primary business function of the designated Employment Area; and,
  • cumulatively do not compromise the integrity of the prime business functions of the designated Employment Area.

6. The sequential test will not be required where ancillary services are proposed within designated Employment Areas.

For more information, please visit Bracknell Forest’s Local Plan document here.