BP1

Business Policy 1

Policy 1: The growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island will be encouraged provided that development proposals accord with the policies of this Plan.

9.1.3 This chapter concentrates on the land use implications of business activity, including industry, storage and distribution, office and commercial development, retailing and tourism.

9.1.4 In respect of employment land availability, the Department has undertaken and published an Employment Land Availability Study (1). A summary of this is included in Appendix 9. Across the Island there are some 118 hectares of land allocated for industrial development. Much of this is concentrated around Ballasalla and the Airport. There is, however, a spread of land available across the Island to support employment and regeneration opportunities in each area. Such land will be important to support the regeneration of the Service Centres and the Gateway and Employment role of the Airport area.

9.1.5 The Douglas area has seen by far the bulk of the industrial land take up in recent decades and much of the land allocated for such purposes has been taken up. This is why the Department has resolved to proceed with a Development Order for the development of some 20 hectares of employment land to the south of Cooil Road. A recent report on the take up of industrial land in the Douglas area indicates that it has been faster than anticipated and at current rates that all the land will be required by 2015. While the situation will be subject to detailed assessment in the preparation of the Plan for the East, the Department is satisfied that the release of additional land is both necessary and appropriate at this stage.

9.1.6 The Department has also reviewed planning permissions for office development. The majority of these are focused in the Douglas area. Take up has been low in recent years with the exception of certain relocations to corporate headquarters, such as Skandia. There are a number of sites still available for new office development, in addition to the existing stock. Of note is the recent trend for sites with office consents to subsequently secure planning permission for residential use. The most notable example being the final phase of the Villiers development, which now has a residential permission in addition to its partly-implemented office consent.

9.1.7 The following information has been extracted from the Review of Economic Strategy (Treasury 2003) which formed part of the background to the Economic Strategy 2004 approved by Tynwald in October that year.

(1) Employment Land Availability Study DLGE 2007

9.1.8 The Isle of Man has enjoyed unprecedented economic success in the last ten years. Over this period annual gross domestic product, or GDP (the value of the economy's output of all goods and services), has more than doubled in real terms (both absolute and per capita) such that from a deficit of around one quarter, per capita GDP in the Isle of Man now exceeds that of the UK by 7% and the average for the European Union (EU 15) by 10%.

9.1.9 The period 1993 - 2000 saw the economy not only expanding but doing so at an accelerating rate, before slowing in 2000/01. Since 2001 the economy has continued to grow at around 5% per annum (the latest national income accounts revealed growth of 5.9% in 2002/03), meaning that, after the recession in the early 1980's the Isle of Man economy has recorded economic growth in each of the last twenty years.

9.1.10 This economic performance has been led by the financial and related services sectors. The finance industry grew by over 80% between 1996 and 2001 alone. But the table below illustrates that probably all areas of Manx economy are today generating more income in real terms than a decade ago, even if the relative importance of some, most noticeably manufacturing, has declined.

Table One - Sectoral Contributions to National Income 1992/93 v 2000/01 (at 2000/01 prices)

	Contributions to National Income (£)		Real Increase in income generated (%)
	1992/93	%	2000/01	%
Manufacturing	72.0	11	76.7	6	6.5
Finance	229.7	35	505.4	41	120.0
Tourism	41.0	6	67.7	6	65.1
Agriculture/Fishing	11.7	2	15.8	1	35.0
Construction	46.7	7	89.6	7	91.9
Professional Services	96.7	15	186.1	15	92.4
Utilities, Distribution and Miscellaneous Services	133.1	20	223.8	18	68.1
Public Administration	34.6	5	53.6	4	54.9
Total	665.5	100	1,218.7	100	83.1

9.1.11 National income data aside, the clearest indication of the economic success enjoyed by the Island in recent times comes from the labour market. Census results show that the workforce increased from 33,189 in 1991 to 39,685 by 2001, an increase almost identical to that in the total resident population over the period. But the number seeking employment but who were unemployed at the time halved from 1,360 to 635.

9.1.12 Changes in the underlying structure of the economy reflected in the national income accounts are further depicted in the Census statistics below showing the distribution of labour between the different sectors of the economy.

Table Two - Employment by Sector 1991 v 1996

	1991	1996	2001
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Agriculture and Fishing	1,240	3.9	938	2.8	543	1.4
Manufacturing	3,348	10.5	3,562	10.6	3,185	8.2
Construction	3,404	10.7	3,372	10.0	2,512	6.4
Utilities1	513	1.6	462	1.4	515	1.3
Transport and Communications	2,437	7.7	2,688	8.0	2,970	7.6
Wholesaling and Retailing	3,844	12.1	3,692	11.0	4,372	11.2
Finance	4,353	13.7	5,942	17.7	8,959	22.9
ICT2	n.a	n.a	n.a	n.a	361	0.9
Professional Services	5,438	17.1	6,081	18.1	7,296	18.7
Tourist Accommodation	856	2.7	765	2.3	743	1.9
Entertainment and Catering	1,403	4.4	1,156	3.4	2,116	5.4
Miscellaneous Services	2,849	9.0	2,768	8.2	2,373	6.1
Public Administration	2,144	6.7	2,146	6.4	3,105	8.0
Total	31,829	100.0	33,5773	100.0	39,050	100.0

Notes:

1. Electricity, gas and water
2. Not separated out from other sectors until 2001
3. Includes 5 where occupation not recorded

9.2 Industry and Storage and Distribution

9.2.1 The nature of industrial activity on the Island changed very considerably during the last century. The previously dominant primary industries of fishing and agriculture now contribute only 1% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide only 1.4% of our total employment, whereas manufacturing contributes 6% to the GDP and provides 8.2% of our employment, and the construction industry contributes 6% to the GDP and provides 6.4% of our employment. Storage and distribution has also become a more important activity, particularly in terms of the demands it makes on land, buildings, and access requirements.

9.2.2 Most of the Island's industry is located close to major transportation links, particularly in the case of Douglas, Braddan and Ballasalla, which all have convenient access to Ronaldsway airport and Douglas harbour. Ramsey and Peel harbours are used for the importation and exportation of large scale goods (fuel, building supplies etc). All of these are conveniently accessible to significant pools of labour. In order to minimise excessive transportation of goods and travel for employees, and to promote sustainable development, much of the Island's future industrial development should continue to be concentrated in these locations, and appropriate areas of land should be made available for such uses in the Area Plans for these parts of the Island. It will also be appropriate, when formulating Area Plans for our smaller settlements, to make provision for the continued operation of small-scale family businesses, particu