Motorways and Industrial Location :a Study of Industrial Property Development within a Conurbation

Abstract

This study examines the impact of motorways on the location of new industrial property developments in urban areas. This is achieved through investigations of manufacturing and warehousing activities within the West Midlands conurbation. It is argued that recent research underestimates the local impact of motorways, because it concentrates on cost-based assessment. In fact, aspects of the location decision, including perception and personal preference, suggest that motorways do attract industry, and unlike ordinary roads, this attraction is concentrated around their access junctions. In addition, it is demonstrated that the growth of speculative industrial development has resulted in many fundamental location decisions being taken by the property sector and not the firm. These issues are examined by two complementary research methods. The first is quantitative and based on the regression of land use and planning application data against a motorway access surface. The second is composed of questionnaire surveys of estate agents, developers and local authorities. Together these reveal that new industrial developments exhibit a marked clustering in the immediate vicinity of motorway junctions found in the inner industrial parts of the conurbation, In support of this behaviour, evidence is presented of the significance of frontage and prestige factors. However, in more peripheral locations, including those well served by motorways, evidence of only limited demand was discovered. These findings demonstrate that the impact of motorways can indeed be significant at the local scale, and these routes may possibly form the focus for a new arrangement of urban industrial location based upon a corridor of motorway access points. The research also spotlights the importance of a previously ignored group of estate agents and developers, and generally supports a behavioural interpretation of location choice. Finally, the study has implications for policy issues and in particular, the West Midlands County Structure Plan.