Issues and Options

7 Prosperous Places

7.1 The Prosperous Places chapter of the Local Plan sets out policies relating to the local economy – particularly retail and commercial development; tourism; improving education and skills; and regeneration. Tendring has a diverse economy, with employment across a range of sectors, and the Local Plan seeks to promote economic growth that serves the needs of existing residents and businesses as well as creating new opportunities.

Retail and Town Centres

7.2 Town centres act as key locations for a diverse range of uses such as retail, leisure, commercial, office, tourism, cultural activities, community facilities, and also provide an important, sustainable location for housing.

7.3 National policy requires councils to support the role that town centres play at the heart of their communities, and to pursue policies to promote their viability and vitality. This is reflected in the Local Plan's strategic objectives, and the policies at the beginning of this chapter seek to achieve this. New retail development will generally be encouraged and permitted within town centres, and these 'Primary Shopping Areas' are designated on the Local Plan's maps. Within these areas, the use of ground floor shop units will be restricted to uses within the nationally defined 'Use Class E' – which sets out appropriate town centre uses.

7.4 The Town Centre First Principle requires applications for main town centre uses to be in town centres, then in edge of centre locations and, only if suitable sites are not available should out of centre sites be considered. New retail developments in out of centre locations require an impact assessment if the proposed floorspace is over a certain threshold, which will look at the effect of the proposal on nearby town centres.

7.5 In addition to focussing new retail development towards existing town centres, the Local Plan also seeks to meet the needs of villages and local neighbourhoods, by supporting proposals for new retail development proportionate to their size and by limiting the loss of existing retail provision.

Employment Sites

7.6 The Local Plan designates two types of sites for employment and commercial uses:

• Existing Employment Sites – which Policy PP6 seeks to retain to continue to provide for the employment needs of the District; and
• Employment Allocations – which Policy PP7 promotes as suitable locations for new employment uses.

7.7 In reviewing the Local Plan, the Council will commission a review of the District's Employment Land. The purpose of this study will be to quantify the current levels of existing and already planned employment floorspace within the District, and to determine the amount of additional land and more suitable employment sectors that may be required to extend the Local Plan to cover the period to 2041. It is anticipated that future growth in the District will be closely linked to the designation of Freeport East, and that future employment allocations will need to take full advantage of the opportunities this designation offers. As a result, any additional allocation of land for employment development is likely to be focussed around the A120 corridor between Harwich and Colchester.

Tourism

7.8 Tourism is worth almost £414 million to Tendring District's economy, with the industry responsible for around 9,000 jobs. A significant proportion of new jobs in our district could come from tourism if the right action is taken by providing an appropriate range of tourist attractions and holiday accommodation. The Local Plan contains policies which promote new tourism development proposals that would help to improve the tourism appeal of the District to visitors, as well as supporting the creation of additional accommodation such as hotels, guesthouses, camping and caravaning sites, and holiday parks.

7.9 Policy PP8 gives examples of the kind of new tourism development proposals that may be supported, with a particular focus on the District's pleasure piers, amusement parks and holiday parks; water-based leisure activities; farm diversification schemes; high quality restaurants and cafes; and outdoor recreation.

7.10 In addition to supporting new tourism-related development, the Local Plan also seeks to protect existing tourist accommodation. Specifically, Policy PP9 seeks to retain existing hotels and guesthouses within defined town centres and along the seafront of the District's coastal towns, and development proposals that would result in the loss of these facilities will not be supported. Similarly, Policy PP11 provides protection to holiday parks, preventing redevelopment of 'safeguarded sites' for alternative uses either in part or in whole. On sites that aren't specifically designated as safeguarded on the Local Plan's map, redevelopment will only be allowed in certain circumstances – and importantly where the proposals will not materially harm the provision of tourist accommodation in the District.

Rural Economy

7.11 The thrust of local and national Planning policy is to direct new jobs to existing built up areas and centres of employment. However, it is important to recognise that the District's rural areas make an important contribution to the overall economy, so the Local Plan makes provision for certain kinds of development to come forward in the countryside – subject to detailed consideration of the wider impacts. The following types of development are specified in Policy PP13:

• The conversion or re-use of rural buildings in the countryside to employment, leisure, or tourism uses;
• Business and domestic equine related activities;
• Agricultural and key workers' dwellings; and
• Buildings that are essential to support agriculture; aquaculture; horticulture and forestry; and farm diversification schemes.