An examination of policies and issues relating to the management of industrial land in core and peripheral urban areas

Abstract

The principle focus of the research is on the demand for industrial land and premises and the dilemmas that flow from an inadequate comprehension of the demand component in the industrial development process at the local level. This lack of understanding is borne out by the problems encountered in the traditional core industrial areas which are not capable of providing the appropriate supply response to the changing requirements by manufacturing industry for land and premises. There are therefore repellant forces active in the traditional core areas. What emerges from the research is a framework for assessing and managing complex inner area and peripheral urban sites that could help form the basis of an Industrial Land Strategy. A cost-benefit methodology is adopted for assessing the viability of renewal of certain areas. The author advocates the local authority as_ the appropriate agency for implementation of such a strategy though there are certain policy implications attached to this. The whole concept of a viable Industrial Land Strategy rests on an understanding of both the nature and characteristics of Demand and Supply. Whilst considerable work has and is being undertaken on the Supply side very little is understood of the demand side of the equation. The framework as discussed above explicitly involves greater comprehension of demand side characteristics. In addition and within the context of this review those factors affecting the demand for industrial land and methods to determine in a quantitative sense this demand are analysed. The geographical backcloth to the whole of this study is the West Midlands Conurbation which has formed a convenient microcosm of the problems and issues to be found. But these should not be considered unique to the area rather they are symptomatic of the general economic malaise affecting the majority of the United Kingdom's principal industrial centres.