Government recognises logistics in new planning reform

By Liza Helps Property Editor Logistics Matters

WITH REGARD to the ‘building of a strong competitive economy’ planners have been warned that they should pay particular regard to facilitating development to meet the needs of a modern economy, including identifying suitable locations for uses such as laboratories, gigafactories, data centres, digital infrastructure, freight and logistics.

In addition, planning policies and decisions should recognise and address the specific locational requirements of different sectors. This includes making provision for storage and distribution operations at a variety of scales and in suitably accessible locations that allow for the efficient and reliable handling of goods, especially where this is needed to support the supply chain, transport innovation and decarbonisation.

However, as Pembury Real Estate director James Wright notes: “Despite the Government’s objective of boosting economic growth, the new NPPF does not set out employment floorspace targets, nor does it prescribe any method for assessing employment land supply.”

Conversely the NPPF with regard to residential reintroduces mandatory housing targets, requires Green Belt reviews, and increases the number of years for which authorities must demonstrate a housing land supply from a 5 year housing supply to a six year housing supply.

There was a mixed response to the new NPPF from the sector bodies with UK Warehousing Association Chief Executive Clare Bottle welcoming the ‘small gains’ provided  which it felt fell short of what it had hoped following its submission to the call for evidence announced in July.

The UKWA had wanted the new NPPF to include specific assessments for the needs of the logistics and warehousing sector. This could include prioritising land near transport hubs and incorporating future technological advancements, such as automation, which could impact logistics needs over time. In addition, it had wanted the NPPF to provide specific support for the logistics and warehousing sector through the use of stronger language particularly promoting ‘the importance of warehousing and distribution centres in ensuring national supply chain efficiency’ to planners which it said ‘often overlook this critical industry’.

Logistics UK also agreed that ‘for too long logistics has been an afterthought in the planning system’. However, it felt that the new NPPF was a positive step for the sector.

The NPPF is aimed at securing the 1.5 million new homes the Labour Government promised would be built by 2029 when it came to power in July.

This promise will also drive the need for an extra 145 million ft2 of warehousing to serve those homes. Research in 2019 when online penetration was just 19% noted that for every home in the UK there is a requirement of 69 ft2 of warehousing needed to support it. Internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales has increased nearly 40% since then and a corresponding warehouse requirement per household would now be 96.6 ft2 per household.