According to a recent survey * nearly 20,000 new jobs have been created in the Borough since 1981, making Dudley Borough the seventh most successful location for new jobs in the UK.
Despite this success, areas of high unemployment still exist in the Borough and therefore new jobs are still needed. However, it is important that these new jobs are not created at the expense of the environment.
One of the most important contributions that the Council can make to job creation is making sure that enough employment land of the right type and in the right place is made available at the right time.
The existing UDP has been very successful in keeping industrial land in industrial use and therefore protecting jobs. However, recent research carried out for the Council has indicated that some of the poorest quality industrial land will not be needed in the future for industrial uses.
However, there is also strong evidence that the Borough's better industrial land deserves a strong level of protection and good new sites are still needed.
The Council believes that a broad range of employment sites and areas should be provided for the future to meet the needs of a wide range of investors. The Council does not want to be faced with a situation where new jobs are lost to the Borough because of lack of suitable sites.
In order to meet the needs of new investors and existing firms the Council believes there are two broad choices. The first choice is to provide new greenfield sites that are capable of attracting national and international firms. Such a site is currently proposed at Himley by the South Staffordshire Local Plan; however, because of the cancellation of the Western Orbital Motorway Staffordshire County Council no longer supports this idea. A similar site was once proposed by Birmingham City Council at Woodgate Site A/Quinton Meadows in Birmingham (next to Junction 3 of the M5). However, due to the concern of the residents of Halesowen, Dudley Council is no longer promoting this site for industrial development.
The second choice concerns the promotion of so called brownfield sites (sites that have been previously developed) and the continuing protection of the main centres of employment in the Borough.
The Council believes that the brownfield choice is the most sustainable. However, enough private and public money must be found to improve and develop these areas to the highest standards in order to attract new firms and help keep existing firms in the Borough.
The Council is now considering ways in which future investment can be focused to help high unemployment areas and create and keep jobs for the whole Borough. One idea that seems to have many benefits is the Central Employment Area. This area of opportunity stretches from Dudley to Brierley Hill and includes major new developments such as the Waterfront; new proposals such as Castlegate, the Dudley Southern ByPass and the proposed Midland Metro; many older industrial areas such as Silver End and Harts Hill and finally the shopping centres of Dudley, Brierley Hill and Merry Hill.
An opportunity now exists to create and protect jobs in this area, in a comprehensive and dynamic way, by promoting new job creating developments and improving and possibly redeveloping some of the more run down industrial areas.
Although the Central Employment Area could be the major regeneration project for the Borough, the Council is aware that other employment areas still need and deserve improving without causing an over supply of land.
* Comparing Cities - Business Strategies Limited 1997
These early documents relate to the preparation of the Dudley Unitary Development Plan and chart the stages and position of policy in the Plan at each stage of the review. They are intended for reference only and the content does not necessarily reflect the current state of play.
