To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what discussions she has had with employers’ organisations on the availability of appropriate sites and facilities for manufacturing start-up businesses and other small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing sector; (131806)

The Secretary of State meets a range of organisations, but has had no specific discussions with employers’ organisations or with the Local Government Association about sites and facilities needed for start-up businesses and other small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing sector.

National planning policy set out in Planning Policy Guidance 4: “Industrial, commercial development and small firms” asks local planning authorities to ensure that there is a sufficient quantity and variety of land available to meet the differing needs of businesses. Local planning authorities should also ensure that there is sufficient land available which is readily capable of development and well served by infrastructure.

Regional planning bodies and local planning authorities, in preparing and reviewing their development plans, should make a realistic assessment of the quantity of land likely to be needed in their areas to meet the needs of business and developers. That assessment should ensure that suitable locations are available for start-up businesses likely to come forward in the manufacturing sector as well as for small and medium-sized enterprises.

To assist planning authorities in assessing the overall demand for and supply of employment land, we have published “Employment Land Reviews: Guidance Note” (December 2004). This guidance seeks to help planning authorities assess the suitability of sites to accommodate employment development, to help protect the best sites in the face of competition from higher-value uses, and to help authorities to identify sites which are no longer needed for employment development and can be released for other uses, including for housing.