09 9 08

The Maldon District Business Club, breakfast meeting was held on Tuesday 9 September 2008 at the Three Rivers Golf and Country Club. Members, guests and stakeholders were given an advance preview of the findings of employment land survey of the District.

The survey was presented by Roger Tym & Partners, a firm of planners and development economists, and Lambert Smith Harrington, property agents who have been appointed to prepare the employment land review on behalf of Maldon District Council.

This information was timely as Maldon District Council is currently preparing its Local Development Framework, which in due course replace the existing Local Plan and be an important tool in setting the vision for and managing future development in the District.

The Local Development Framework must be informed by a robust evidence base, part of which is an employment land review designed to assess the requirement for new office, industrial and warehousing floor space, and to examine whether there is currently enough floor space in the right places to meet the requirement.

Their work so far, which provides the context for the study, has revealed that: The East of England Plan, recently published by the East of England Regional Assembly, sets a very low proposed target for new jobs in the District - 800 by 2021.

Maldon has high economic activity rates and low unemployment rates. However, out-commuting levels are high only 52% of Maldon’s population of working age work in the district, compared to Colchester where 71% of people work in the District The skill level of the population is relatively low.

The East of England Plan sets a target for 2,400 additional dwellings in Maldon District between 2001 and 2021. If jobs are not available for the new residents in the District, out commuting levels are likely to increase.

The supply of commercial floor space within the District is relatively low with the major employment centres of Maldon and Burnham-on-Crouch of only minor importance within the greater Eastern Region.

Existing office space serves largely local demand, but is unlikely to prove attractive to those considering Maldon as a potential office location.

The industrial/warehouse market is a stronger component of the local economy than the office sector, with hi-tech industry particularly strong.

Lambert Smith Harrington have visited existing employment sites across the District to assess their future prospects and have also visited and assessed possible new employment sites across the District to examine their suitability for future development. They found that there is a limited supply of suitable, good quality sites for future development of office, industrial and warehousing uses.