Policy information sourced from Three Rivers Core Strategy
CP6 Employment and Economic Development
The Council will support development that:
- Sustains parts of the District as attractive areas for business location
- Provides an appropriate number of jobs to meet strategic requirements
- Promotes skills and learning of the local workforce
- Provides for a range of small, medium and large business premises
- Reinforces the south-west Herts area’s existing economic clusters including film, printing and publishing, telecommunications and construction
- Further develops knowledge-based industries (including high-tech manufacturing, finance and business services, computing and Research & Development, communications and media industries)
- Aligns economic growth with housing growth in the area in order to balance the provision of homes and jobs and reduce out-commuting
- Retains overall levels of industrial and warehousing floorspace in the District and adopts a more flexible approach to the release of office floorspace for other uses
- Reduces the need to travel by promoting mixed-use development, including ‘livework’ units (where these can be demonstrated to be appropriate), and homeworking, whilst taking into account the need to protect existing residential amenities.
The sustainable growth of the Three Rivers economy will be supported by:
- Continuing to focus employment use within the key employment areas within the District: Leavesden Aerodrome, Croxley Business Park, Tolpits Lane, Maple Cross/Maple Lodge, Kings Langley Employment Area, Carpenders Park West, Rickmansworth Town Centre
- Ensuring that employment uses are accessible through a range of transport modes including by public transport
- Supporting economic development in rural areas where this would contribute to sustainable development objectives would be consistent in scale with the rural location and would not result in harmful effects on the environment or local communities
- Supporting opportunities for economic development in the South Oxhey area as part of plans for regeneration of the area to help address identified deprivation in the South Oxhey area in relation to access to employment, education, skills and training and income
- Releasing office space from employment use where this is expected to be surplus to employment needs across the plan period as indicated by an up to date Employment Land Study
- Generally retaining general industrial and warehousing space in employment use, but recognising opportunities for relocation or mixed use redevelopment of industrial and warehousing space where this would contribute to wider sustainability objectives and would not harm the overall economic performance of the District.
The Site Allocations Development Plan Document will identify sites for additional employment floorspace and the boundaries of designated employment areas. It will also identify sites with the potential to accommodate mixed use development according to the principles set out in this policy. On the basis of current evidence, this is likely to include the introduction of residential and other uses at Leavesden Aerodrome, Kings Langley employment area and Delta Gain, and expansion of business activity at Maple Cross. These sites are indicated on the Key Diagram (Figure 5).
For more information please see the Three Rivers Core Strategy