Overview

Property is a function of business productivity and the Property section of the Joint Economic Masterplan is designed in this context to create conditions which:

• Ensure a higher proportion of the local community are in work
• Ensure those in work earn ever increased wages
• Ensure we capture a larger proportion of local/sub-regional spend

This is achieved through an understanding of ‘competitive advantage’ and the advantages accrued from external economies of scale (location advantages) which support the growth of an area. This recognises a strategy beyond competing on price to one which develops an offer to business which adds to their competitive advantage. Property is a part of this wider offer the strategy must make.

Current status

Recent studies by Experian and Innes England have suggested the area will see a continued contraction of general industrial activity across the conurbation with a steady increase in B1 demand centred on Mansfield and the location advantages of the town centre; with further high growth of distribution operations across Ashfield, maximising access to the motorway junctions vital to these sectors. This continued rebalancing of the local economy has left an oversupply of committed employment land, much of which is of questionable quality, and a mismatch of supply and demand in the built stock of commercial premises.

In addition, weak macroeconomic conditions have led to limited private sector activity and reduced employment all within a context of harsh public sector cuts. This environment will require the area to respond to current conditions whilst planning its brighter future through exploiting its competitive advantage, which must focus on the 5 growth sectors and will require innovative ways of delivering local priorities.

Ambition

• Correct the oversupply of employment land, challenge suitability of committed sites and address the legacy of redundant sites in urban centres and former industrial areas
• Redress market failure through facilitating the delivery of available sites that the market requires in the right locations, free of developer tie
• Ensure a local supply of commercial premises is available to both attract mobile investment projects and to support high growth local firms in key priority sectors
• Provide a balanced property portfolio of premises to address local oversupply of units < 5,000 sq. ft. and an undersupply of property 5 – 50,000 sq. ft.
• Attract investment to deliver Town Centre priorities across the main urban areas

Measures of success

• Increased availability of serviced employment land – 10 Ha.
• Reuse / reallocation of Brownfield land – 4 Ha.
• Increased private sector investment – £6,000,000
• New available commercial floor space – 6,000 sq. m.
• Delivery of intervention sites (see action plan)