The continued success, and future growth, of the arc is not guaranteed unless there is action to overcome to area’s housing crisis. However, less understood is the relationship between housing and employment land. This relationship has recently been examined by the British Property Federation through the release of the 'What Warehousing Where?' report which highlights logistics as an integral part of the economy. As the population continues to grow and more homes are delivered it is equally important that we build in the capacity to serve the people who live there to ensure and support modern ways of living. The report emphasises that there is 69 sq. ft. of warehouse floor space for every home in England.

The ambition to deliver 1 million new homes in the arc would require 69 million sq. ft. or assuming a site cover of 45%, 3,450 acres of employment land. Although, it should be noted that the demand for warehouse space is not only directly related to house building but also other factors such as the ever-increasing shift towards online retail.

The demand for industrial and logistics development has been historically higher in well-connected areas; improved connectivity from the proposed infrastructure upgrades, particularly around new transport hubs will likely drive demand beyond that generated by growth in the arc itself.

Such growth in the demand for warehouse space will also see a substantial increase in the amount of jobs in the B class industries in the regions. Oxford Economics employment forecasts for the 22 local authorities in the arc show that the arc requires significant additional allocated industrial land to meet the anticipated space demands from future job growth. Oxford Economics forecasts for the transportation and storage sector along with the professional, scientific and tech sectors show a dramatic rise in job creation. It is projected that by 2030 there will be an additional 34,259 employees working in B Class industries throughout the arc.

Planning for workspace growth

Local authorities vary in the approaches they take to employment land reviews and allocations policies, with much information being outdated or incomplete. However, according to Savills own land database, there is roughly 1,555 acres of employment land suitable for B class development within the arc. Assuming a site cover of 45%, the current available land will provide roughly 31.1 million sq. ft. of space. Paired with the current pipeline of 2.29 million sq. ft. there is a rough total supply of 33.39 million sq. ft.

Furthermore, based upon the five-year average take-up of 5.02 million sq. ft. the current supply provides just 6.7 years’ worth of supply within the arc. Factoring in the increased demand from both the rise in house construction and job growth the actual supply of land would be considered far lower.

There is currently a shortfall of 1,895 acres of employment land to meet the projected need from residential development. This land shortfall does not take into account the additional land requirements from the projected future employment growth.

It is clear from the evidence presented above that there is a severe mismatch in the amount of employment land required in the corridor compared to the amount currently being offered for logistics and industrial development.

A more structured and consistent approach to employment land reviews would allow for more effective strategic planning across the corridor. The lack of consistent data means that we have not been able to draw firm conclusions on the overall planned supply of employment land in the different market areas.

However, the analysis in this report does indicate that employment land supply is not responding quickly enough to meet need for land which would provide mechanisms for future economic growth throughout the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford arc.

_{Read the articles within The Oxford-Cambridge Innovation Arc below.}