The Council aims to ensure that the City is a competitive location for industry and business development and that a minimum 10 year supply of good quality, well located industrial and business land is available for development at all times. This reflects strategic guidance contained within National Planning Policy Guideline 2: Business and Industry (NPPG2) and accords with Joint Structure Plan policies which seek to safeguard land for industrial and business uses.

The City’s Industrial and Business Land Supply is drawn from:

Confirmed Marketable Sites - Sites with no servicing problems, in good locations which are considered marketable; and

Potential Marketable Sites - Sites that could be marketable but which require some improvement in terms of promotion, appearance, servicing or ownership.

These two categories form the City’s Marketable Industrial and Business Land Supply.

In addition to the Marketable Land Supply, a number of sites have been identified as:

Specialised Sites - Sites which are specifically reserved for industrial and business investment of a specialised nature as defined in NPPG 2, such as Large Single User High Amenity Sites; and

Retained Sites - Sites in predominantly older industrial areas for which there appears to be little current demand but where industrial and business development is consistent with the Development Plan.

The Plan sets out a series of proposals that complement the aims of the Joint Structure Plan and support the aims of the Alliance Strategy and the more detailed objectives and actions of the Joint Economic Strategy. Central to achieving this will be the maintenance of a minimum 10 year supply of serviceable, available and marketable land for industrial and business development. In order to ensure an adequate distribution of these opportunities throughout the City, the Council will seek to maintain a minimum 10 year supply within each of the Core Economic Development Areas and the area of the City outwith Core Economic Development Areas.

The Plan seeks to maintain and improve on the City’s recent positive performance. Accordingly, the assessment of the adequacy of the land supply will not be based solely on past rates of take-up but will reflect the potential of the Core Economic Development Areas and local industrial and business development opportunities.

The scale, quality and location of industrial and business land affords the opportunity to reallocate sites that are not readily serviceable, available and marketable, to suitable alternative uses. In order to ensure the continued relevance of industrial and business designations, the Council will review, annually, the Industrial and Business Land Supply. The review will examine opportunities to re-designate some of the poorer quality sites for suitable alternative uses. The potential to redesignate land in the proximity of the strategic road network for industry and business, will also be explored. This policy should be read in conjunction with policy DEV 3: Industry and Business

1. The Council will maintain a minimum 10 year supply of serviceable, available and marketable land for industrial and business development. This supply will be safeguarded for uses that fall within Use Classes 4 Business, 5 General Industrial and 6 Storage or Distribution, of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes)(Scotland) Order 1997. The Marketable Land Supply will take account of past rates of take-up, the potential of the Core Economic Development Areas and opportunities for local industrial and business development.

2. An annual review of Industrial and Business land allocations will be undertaken to ensure that industrial and business designations continue to be appropriate. This review will assist in the transfer of surplus industrial and business land that is not readily serviceable, available and marketable, to other suitable alternative uses and take account of emerging industrial and business opportunities.