Andy Street, the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands has described levelling up as “a level playing field for the UK’s regions”, whilst Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, says it is about “creating jobs and opportunity and restoring pride in place”. Whatever it means, the UK Government is so deeply committed to levelling up, that in September the former Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was renamed the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Last month the British Property Federation and Savills launched a landmark report, Levelling Up – The Logic of Logistics, supported by the UK Warehousing Association and a number of leading property developers. Interestingly, this new report shows how warehousing is making an important contribution to the levelling up agenda, with 70% of demand for warehousing property coming from the North. It also highlights how the demand for growth has been severely constrained by poor recognition in the National Planning Policy Guidance.
At UKWA, we have long been calling for land use reform and arguing the case for putting warehousing and logistics at the heart of future planning. Policy makers must recognise that the growth of online shopping and home delivery means that for every million new homes built, another million delivery points are created for customers who expect orders to be delivered quickly and sustainably. Accordingly, warehousing should be recognised as an essential service for communities, baked into planning policy in the same way that GP surgeries and schools are an accepted part of critical infrastructure planning.
Warehousing is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK economy. UKWA’s 2021 report into the UK market showed that warehousing had grown by over 30% in the previous six years and all forecasts point to continued record take up and amplified growth. Clearly, more land will need to be allocated for future industrial development.
E-commerce activity is more space-hungry and more labour-hungry, so it’s no surprise that warehouses are getting bigger (although e-commerce is not the only driver for growth) and warehouse operators will need to be increasingly imaginative about where they source the talent to match this growth. We know that warehouses must be close to transport networks and power networks but, crucially, they must be close to populations too, not only to meet customers’ uncompromising delivery demands, but also to be easily accessible for workers.
Logistics contributes billions of pounds to the UK economy, accounts for around 7% of the UK’s workforce and is creating increasingly diverse job opportunities, whilst also becoming more energy efficient. We welcome the BPF’s report and call on policy makers to measure demand properly by adopting the new methodology outlined in the report; reform planning regulations to deliver levelling up through better support for warehouse developments; and recognise that the success of our sector is a good news story for the economy, society and the environment.
Clare Bottle
UKWA, CEO
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