Policy information sourced from the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan
SP8 The Local Economy
The Council will support economic prosperity, encourage inward investment and the creation of a range jobs by:
- Resisting the loss of land from industrial, storage, office and research uses;
- Retaining a stock of good quality employment land and premises;
- Ensuring that provision is made to meet the needs of business sectors that are already well represented in Welwyn Hatfield and those that are looking to invest in the area;
- Maintaining a balance of types of employment so that opportunities are available for people with a range of different skills and levels of skill;
- Ensuring that provision is made for a range of opportunities, in terms of sites and premises, to allow new and emerging sectors to be accommodated; and
- Recognising the important role played by other employment generating uses (including retail) in providing employment and contributing to the local economy
New office, industry and warehousing development should be located in the designated employment areas defined on the Policies Map. At designated employment areas, the supply of land for industrial, office and warehousing uses will be protected against changes of use for other purposes.
In the most accessible locations within its suite of designated employment areas, the Council will permit high value employment uses in well-represented and growing sectors of the local economy including life sciences (including pharmaceuticals, medical technology and biotechnology), software and digital, and green industries, retail (back office functions, not shops) and business services.
Across the designated employment areas, a range of types of employment and business and a stock of sites and premises of varying qualities for small and medium sized businesses will be retained in the borough. The Council will encourage the provision of small business units through measures such as premises sharing and the conversion or sub-division of larger buildings to form small units.
In rural areas, small scale business diversification on farms will be supported where it contributes to the viability of the farm, provides local employment and accords with Policies SP 25 Rural Development and SADM 34 Development within the Green Belt.
The Council will support the provision of childcare facilities for employees, as part of employment-generating development, where sufficient demand from the employment area can be demonstrated.
The provision of training facilities or other opportunities to improve the skills and qualifications of the resident workforce and help sections of the workforce that are disadvantaged in the labour market (particularly school leavers not in employment, education or training) will be promoted and contributions to support these schemes will be sought. Where it addresses a specific skill requirement of the local workforce, the provision of such facilities in designated employment areas will be supported.
Training initiatives will be also supported. The Council will also support the provision of other uses that are ancillary to, but supportive of, Class B or Class E(g) uses in designated employment areas.
For more information please see the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan