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Employment Planning

One of the Council's strategic objectives is to promote "prosperous communities, creating opportunity for all by promoting sustainable local economic development".

The Council's planning policy function has an important role to play in meeting this objective.  In order to promote a prosperous economy, there must be adequate employment land and premises within the District.  The portfolio of land and buildings should meet the needs of the local economy.

The Council is currently producing a Local Development Framework (LDF) which will replace its adopted Local Plan.  Within the LDF there will be policies on employment generating development.  Policies will guide employment uses to appropriate locations and allocate and/or safeguard sufficient land to meet business needs.

Employment Land Review

In March 2005, the Council appointed Bone Wells Associates to carry out an Employment Land Review.  The work was split into two parts, with the second part taking place once the panel report had been published on the Draft East of England Plan, Examination in Public.  Part 1 was completed in February 2006.  The panel report was published in June 2006, and Part 2 of the Employment Land Review has now been completed.

The reason for doing Part 2 after the publication of the panel report was in the hope that it would contain more guidance on job targets for the district.  The Employment Land Review will now form part of the evidence base for the Local Development Framework.  

The following document is in PDF format & will open in a NEW WINDOW. You will need Adobe reader to view it. This can be obtained by clicking the 'Get Adobe Reader' link that follows the document. Employment Land Review (Part 1) (387KB)

The following document is in PDF format & will open in a NEW WINDOW. You will need Adobe reader to view it. This can be obtained by clicking the 'Get Adobe Reader' link that follows the document. Employment Land Review (Part 2) (208KB)

To read pdf documents, you will need a copy of Adobe Reader. You can download it free by following this link - OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW

Employment Monitoring

The Council monitors employment generating planning permissions on a six monthly basis.  Sites which have planning permission are surveyed to see if they are under construction, completed or if work has not yet started.  This survey work is reported in the Employment Monitoring Report, which is produced annually.  This document also includes details on:

  • employment structure;
  • unemployment; and
  • vacancies at job centres.

The most recent Employment Monitoring Report is attached below.

The following document is in PDF format & will open in a NEW WINDOW. You will need Adobe reader to view it. This can be obtained by clicking the 'Get Adobe Reader' link that follows the document. Employment Annual Monitoring Report 2006-2007 (556KB)

There is more information on employment related matters and business start up at the Business in North Herts part of the website.

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