Employment Land Needs Assessment Supporting Paper

Employment Land Needs Assessment Supporting Paper

LEEDS LOCAL PLAN (2024 to 2042)

Draft Leeds Employment Land Needs Assessment

Regulation 18 Consultation

June 2025

Introduction

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF; 2024) requires that Local Plans are based upon a robust and up to date evidence base. This Employment Land Needs Assessment (ELNA) has been produced by the Council to provide evidence to support the preparation of the Leeds Local Plan 2042, in accordance with the NPPF and accompanying Planning Practice Guidance (Housing and Economic Needs Assessment; 2019). 

Leeds Local Plan 2042 is currently at Regulation 18 Consultation stage, with this document forming part of the emerging evidence base for consultation.

The ELNA is structured as follows:

Section 2: overview of the local context of Leeds, looking at the geography, population and economy.

Section 3: review of current local, regional and national policies relating to employment.

Section 4: employment development completion trends over last 10 years.

Section 5: outlines methodology and result of different approaches to identifying the need for new employment land in Leeds up to 2042. 

Section 6: a review of sites in the current supply process to identify the capacity of sites which have the potential in meeting future employment land.

Section 7: assessment of unmet employment floorspace/land requirements.

For the purposes of this assessment, and whilst recognising the importance of other uses providing equally important employment, ‘employment’ within the context of this assessment refers to the following uses:

The ELNA should be read alongside the following relevant studies undertaken with external parties, which consisted also of two consultation workshops with agents and developers in the office and industrial sectors:

Preliminary Strategic Review of Employment Land (October 2022) – Mott MacDonald

Market Report – Leeds District (July 2022) – Aspinall Verdi
 

Leeds Context

Geography

Leeds Metropolitan District is the regional capital of Yorkshire, with the district covering an area of 213sq miles (551km²). The district covers the city of Leeds, as well as district towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell, Wetherby and Yeadon. The core of the district is urban with the remaining 65% of the outlying district being Green Belt or other rural land.

Leeds is situated within West Yorkshire and is part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, a partnership bringing together all local authorities within West Yorkshire: Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield.

Leeds is located approximately 8 miles to the east of Bradford and 8 miles to the north of Wakefield, and 22 miles to the south-west of York. Further afield, the closest Core Cities to Leeds are Sheffield, approximately 29 miles to the south, and Manchester, 36 miles to the south-west.

Leeds lies in the western foothills of the Pennines, with variation in the topography, ranging from over 300m above sea level to the north-western edge of the district adjacent to Ilkley Moor and down to roughly 10m to the south-eastern edge of the district around Allerton Bywater where the River Calder and River Aire both meet.

Leeds is connected by major roads to the south of the district with the M62 and M1, by train with Leeds City Station (one of the busiest stations in the UK) with 14 local stations, and by air with Leeds Bradford Airport in Yeadon to the north-west of the district providing international connections.

Population

At the time of the latest census in 2021 Leeds had a population of 812,000. The latest mid-year population estimates in 2023 showed the population had grown to 830,000. Population growth is higher in Leeds than across both Yorkshire and England, increasing by 8% in the last ten years. The median age in Leeds is 36, with 65% of the population being aged 16-64, higher than the regional and national proportions.

Population is typically concentrated in the centre of the District, in and around the City Centre, forming the Main Urban Area, although with various outlying settlements, including Wetherby to the north-east, Garforth and Rothwell to the south-east, Morley to the south-west and Otley, Guiseley and Yeadon to the north-west.

Deprivation as measured by the latest Indices of Multiple Deprivation (2019) is disproportionately located around the inner city areas, particularly the southern City Centre fringes.. Overall, 24% of neighbourhoods in Leeds are in the most deprived nationally, up 2% from 2015, and ranking 33^rd for the proportion of neighbourhoods in the most 10% deprived out of 317 local authorities. However, comparing this against other Core Cities, Leeds compares favourably, having the second lowest proportion of deprived neighbourhoods and lower than the 33% average for all Core Cities.

Twelve neighbourhoods are in the most deprived 1% nationally. These are concentrated to the east, south and west of the city centre, with three located in Killingbeck & Seacroft ward, three in Burmantofts & Richmond Hill ward, two in Hunslet & Riverside ward, two in Armley ward, one in Beeston & Holbeck ward, and one in Gipton & Harehills ward. 

In addition to measuring deprivation, the Social Progress Index measures the real quality of life across communities based on outcomes or the lived experience, providing an indication on how Leeds is progressing on inclusive growth across wards. The overall SPI score for Leeds in 2022 was 55.1 (out of 100, with 100 representing the most desirable outcome). When the geographical spread of social progress by ward is shown, Horsforth, Moortown and Adel & Wharfedale rank the highest in the District, with Gipton & Harehills, Hunslet & Riverside and Burmantofts & Richmond Hill ranking the lowest.

Employment

Leeds had a total of 387,700 residents in employment between April 2023 and March 2024, down 3.3% from the previous year, with an employment rate of 73.5% comparing similarly to the regional figure but lower than the national. Chart ELNA1 below shows past trends in employment, with 2023/24 levels reaching lows since 2015/16, continuing a generally declining employment base since 2020 although with levels being much higher than seen in the 2000s.

 Source: Nomis Labour Market Profile

Just over 150,000 residents in Leeds were economically inactive (equating to 29%), with 13% of these wanting a job and 87% not wanting a job. The majority of these were for students (33%), long-term ill (22%) and looking after family / home (20%). This compares unfavourably to the regional and national figures which have a lower proportion of economically inactive residents, and a higher proportion of those wanting to work.

A total of 496,000 jobs were located in Leeds in 2023, being split by 70% full-time and 30% part-time. Table ELNA1 below shows the breakdown of this by industry, with the highest being in health and social work (13.5%), administration and support (12.1%), retail (11.5%) and professional, scientific and technical activities (12.1%). 

Source: Nomis Labour Market Profile

When compared to the national figure, Leeds has a considerably lower proportion of jobs in retail (-2.2%), manufacturing (-2.1%) and hospitality (-1.8%), although a higher proportion of jobs in administration (+3.4%), professional, scientific and technical activities (+2%) and finance (+1.8%) which tend to be office-based.

When the geographical spread of jobs in Leeds by mid-layer super output area (excluding the City Centre) is mapped, the key employment areas are around the City Centre, Wetherby, Thorpe Park. Looking on a ward basis, Little London & Woodhouse contains the most jobs (103,000) although with the majority of the ward consisting of the City Centre, followed by Hunslet & Riverside (72,000) partially containing the southern portion of the City Centre and Aire Valley and Beeston & Holbeck (45,000) to the south-west of the City Centre.

Table ELNA2 below shows the employment breakdown by occupation, with 59% of jobs being higher-level occupation, 28% in middle-level, and 13% in the lowest-level. This compares favourably to the regional and national figures, with Leeds having a higher proportion of workers in the higher occupations and less in the lowest occupations.

Source: Nomis Labour Market Profile

Latest data in 2022 shows that Leeds had a job density of 1.03, meaning there is just over one job for every resident aged 16-64. This is much higher than 0.82 for Yorkshire and 0.87 nationally indicating better local job availability for those of working age than many authorities.

As for pay, full-time workers on average earned a gross weekly pay of £702.80 in 2024, an increase of 40% in the last ten years. This gross pay is 4.6% higher than seen across Yorkshire, but 3.7% less than the national average, which typically sees higher wages within and around London.

The latest Travel to Work survey conducted by Connecting Leeds in 2024 provides an insight into some commuting patterns across Leeds. Just under half of journeys to work are conducted by car (43%), with 32% journeys undertaken through sustainable modes (walking, cycling, bus and rail), 23% working from home and 1.5% through other means (including park and ride). The proportion of car journeys has decreased over than last 10 years with working from homes showing a large increase post Covid-19 pandemic.

Source: Connecting Leeds

Economy

Leeds’ economy, as measured by Gross Value Added (balanced) which looks at local production of goods and services, is worth nearly £32 billion in 2022. Chart ELNA3 shows the annual change in GVA with recent steady year-on-year growth up to 2020, with strong recovery since in 2021 and 2022. The production and construction sector accounts for roughly 14% of Leeds’ GVA, with services accounting for 86% indicating the importance of typically office-based employment in Leeds.

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Regional gross value added (balanced) by industry)

This GVA value represents nearly half of West Yorkshire’s economy and just over 20% for all of Yorkshire & Humber, demonstrating the strategic and economic importance of Leeds within the region.

When looking at GVA per head of the population, Leeds has £38,857 worth of output per resident in 2022, and which is higher than the regional and national figures. For 2022, GVA per head in Leeds represents 118% of the national figure and 142% of the regional figure. Productivity per head has grown by 21% since 2020, higher than 17% for the UK and similar for Yorkshire. 

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Regional gross value added (balanced) by industry)

Looking at GVA by broad sector, Leeds largest sectors are the professional and private services (28%) and public services (21%) and finance & insurance (13%) – all predominantly office-based service sectors, and being much higher than the regional proportions and slightly higher than the national. Conversely, more industrial-based sectors such as manufacturing have a much lower proportion in Leeds than the regional and national figures.

Source: West Yorkshire Regional Econometric Model (REM)

In the last ten years, the largest increase in GVA by sector in Leeds was for information and communication (+130%) with slight growth in public services and professional services, and slight decreases in manufacturing (-6%). Forecasting for the next ten years to 2035, the REM estimates growth in all sectors (except for agriculture), with the fastest growing sectors being information and communication (+34%), professional services (+22%), finance and insurance (+20%) and public services (+19%), with growth of 13% in manufacturing. 

Source: West Yorkshire Regional Econometric Model (REM)

Comparing this GVA growth to previous changes and forecasts to employment in Leeds, greatest in the last ten years has been seen also in the office-based sectors (with information and services seeing a 55% increase) and the highest decreases seen in extraction and mining and agriculture, although with these making up a small portion of the overall employment, and with manufacturing having decreased by 15% in the last ten years. Slight employment growth is forecasted within the office-based sectors, with a 4% decrease forecasted for manufacturing.

Source: West Yorkshire Regional Econometric Model (REM)

The REM therefore highlights the current importance of office-based sectors in Leeds, which are expected to grow even further in the next ten years. Despite seeing recent losses, there is expected to be some slight growth in GVA for industrial-based sectors, but slight decreases in employment based upon current models.

Labour productivity, as measured by GVA output per hour worked, was £36.80 in 2022, the highest out of all West Yorkshire authorities which had an average of £34.00, although slightly less than the national average of £39.70. Chart ELNA5 below shows the annual change in labour productivity from 2004, showing 2% growth in the last year and 17.5% in the last ten years (compared to 1.5% and 29% growth respectively in the UK), where labour productivity across the UK overtook Leeds in 2014 and this gap has only grown since.

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Subregional productivity: labour productivity indices)

In terms of exports, Leeds exported an estimated £2.6m worth of goods in 2022, split nearly equal between that to the EU (49%) and that outside of the EU (51%). 

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Subnational trade in goods) 

Value of goods exported in Leeds has increased around 40% each year since 2020, which is much higher than the regional and national changes in exports from a 2020 baseline.

Source: Office for National Statistics (Subnational trade in goods)

Breakdown of exported goods is not available at district level, although Chart ELNA8 shows a significant portion of exports from the West Yorkshire region is for manufacturing (61%), followed by wholesale and motor trade (31%). This compares to a proportion of 77% in manufacturing in all of Yorkshire and 60% in UK.

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Subnational trade in goods)

Leeds exported over double the value of goods in services, having exported £5.1m worth of services in 2022, with just over a third of this being exported to the EU (34%). This indicates the important role that services has in Leeds’ economy.

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Subnational trade in services)

After seeing a considerable drop in services in 2021 due to Covid-19, exports in services have increased significantly, seeing a 31% increase from 2019, comparing similarly to the regional figure and slightly higher than the national figure. 

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Subnational trade in services)

The breakdown of exported services by industry for West Yorkshire (Chart ELNA11) shows the majority of these exports were for financial and professional services (52%), transportation, hospitality and IT (21%), other service industries (16%) and manufacturing (6%). This is similar to the UK where financial and professional services accounts for 42%, transportation, hospitality and IT for 31%, manufacturing at 12% and wholesale at 8%.  

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Subnational trade in services)

Planning Policies, Plans and Strategies Review

National

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF; 2025):

The National Planning Policy Framework was first published in 2012, and sets out the national planning policies for England across a number of planning topics and provides guidance on how these are to be applied. The NPPF has undergone multiple revisions since first publication, with the latest revision having been published on 7^th February 2025.

The NPPF sets out that the purpose of the planning system should contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, based upon three overarching and interdependent objectives: economic, social and environmental. 

In terms of the economic objective, the NPPF (para.8) is clear in that the planning system shall “help build a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right types is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth, innovation and improved productivity; and by identifying and coordinating the provision of infrastructure”, needing to be done in a way that is mutually supportive with all of the three objectives so that opportunities can be taken to secure net gains across each whilst taking local circumstances into account.

At the heart of the NPPF is a presumption of sustainable development to ensure sustainable development is pursued in a positive way (Chapter 2), which all plans and decisions should apply. For plan-making, the NPPF (para.11) states that this means: 

“a) all plans should promote a sustainable pattern of development that seeks to: meet the development needs of their area; align growth and infrastructure; improve the environment; mitigate climate change (including by making effective use of land in urban areas) and adapt to its effects;

b) strategic policies should, as a minimum, provide for objectively assessed needs for housing and other uses, as well as any needs that cannot be met within neighbouring areas, unless:

i. the application of policies in this Framework that protect areas or assets of particular importance provides a strong reason for restricting the overall scale, type or distribution of development in the plan area; or

ii. any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this Framework taken as a whole.”

As for plan-making (Chapter 3), strategic policies within development plans should set out an overall strategy for the pattern, scale and design quality of places, and make sufficient provision for employment amongst other uses such as housing, retail, leisure and other commercial development as well as infrastructure, community facilities and conservation and enhancement of the natural, built and historic environment. They should look ahead over a minimum 15-year period from adoption, and provide a clear strategy for bringing sufficient land forward to address objectively assessed needs over the plan period. Land-use designations and allocations should also be identified on a policies map.

Specific policies on how the planning system can support the economy is contained within Chapter 6 of the NPPF. This sets out the overall approach in that planning policies shall help create the conditions for businesses to invest, expand and adapt, support economic growth and productivity, take into account local business needs and wider development opportunities, allow areas to build on their strengths, counter weaknesses and address future challenges, and help drive innovation and capitalise on areas of high productivity.

In addition, the NPPF (para.86) states that planning policies should also:

“a) set out a clear economic vision and strategy which positively and proactively encourages sustainable economic growth, having regard to the national industrial strategy (Invest 2035) and any relevant Local Industrial Strategies and other local policies for economic development and regeneration;

b) set criteria, and identify strategic sites, for local and inward investment to match the strategy and to meet anticipated needs over the plan period;

c) pay particular regard to facilitating development to meet the needs of a modern economy, including by identifying suitable locations for uses such as laboratories, gigafactories, data centres, digital infrastructure, freight and logistics

d) seek to address potential barriers to investment, such as inadequate infrastructure, services or housing, or a poor environment; and

e) be flexible enough to accommodate needs not anticipated in the plan, and allow for new and flexible working practices and spaces, and to enable a rapid response to changes in economic circumstances.”

Planning policies shall also recognise and address the specific locational requirements of different sectors (para.87), including provision specifically for: 

“a) clusters or networks of knowledge and data-driven, creative or high technology industries; and for new expanded or upgraded facilities and infrastructure that are needed to support the growth of these industries (including data centres and grid connections)

b) storage and distribution operations at a variety of scales and in suitably accessible locations that allow for the efficient and reliable handling of goods, especially where this is needed to support the supply chain, transport innovation and decarbonisation; and

c) the expansion or modernisation of other industries of local, regional or national importance to support economic growth and resilience” 

A rural economy shall also be supported through planning policies which enable the sustainable growth and expansion of all types of businesses in rural areas, the development and diversification of agricultural and other land-based rural businesses, sustainable rural tourism and leisure developments which respect the character of the countryside and the retention and development of accessible local services and community facilities. In order to do this, sites meeting local needs may need to be located adjacent or beyond existing settlements in less sustainable locations.

The NPPF contains policies across numerous other categories which have the potential to affect employment land and development in varying ways, including housing supply and delivery, transport and accessibility, town centres, making effective use of land, design and beauty, protecting Green Belt land, flood risk, and conserving and enhancing the natural and historic environment.

National Planning Policy Guidance (PPG):

National Planning Practice Guidance seeks to provide additional context and further guidance on how policies contained within the NPPF are to be interpreted and used, with the intention that both documents shall be read concurrently with both holding material weight in plan-making. The PPG covers an extensive list of topics and categories.

‘Plan-making’ (Oct 2021) sets out the statutory duty and role of development plans and how these should be prepared, presented and reviewed. In addition to this, this guidance document sets out:

• how functional economic market areas can be defined
• gathering evidence to plan for business in order to clearly understand local business requirements, including engagement with our authorities and partners, preparing a robust evidence base with reference to local industrial strategies and engagement with businesses to understand changing needs and address barriers
• using this evidence to assess the:
  • need for economic development land or floorspace (including quantitative and qualitative needs for all types of economic activity - including retail and leisure)
  • existing and future supply land available and its suitability to meet the identified needs (to be undertaken at the same time as Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment)
  • likely availability and achievability of employment-led development taking into account market signals, 
  • the role, capacity and function of town centres including performance trends
  • locations of deprivation which may benefit from planned remedial action, and 
  • the needs of the farming and food production industries including best and most versatile agricultural land

‘Housing and economic land availability assessment’ (July 2019) sets out the method for assessing housing and economic land availability. This sets out five stages for a robust assessment on land availability for economic development uses (with any departure from this guidance needing to be justified):

1. Identification of sites and broad locations – including determining assessment area and site size, desktop review, call for sites and site / locational survey
2. Site / broad location assessment – assessing potential sites against development potential, suitability, availability, achievability and viability, and constraints
3. Windfall assessment (where justified) – determining economic development potential of any windfall sites
4. Assessment review – assessment of development need for economic development uses feeds into a review of the assessment and indicative trajectory to ensure sufficient sites have been identified
5. Final Evidence Base – a set of expected outputs are produced and presented

‘Housing and economic needs assessment’ (December 2020) guides authorities on how to assess economic needs, including:

• determining the type of employment land that is needed, reflecting local circumstances and market conditions
• in preparing and maintaining evidence about business needs and gathering evidence to plan for business uses, strategic policy making authorities will need to liaise closely with the business community and local industrial strategies to understand current and potential future requirements. Assessment will be needed on:
• the best fit functional economic market area
• existing stock of land for employment uses
• recent pattern of employment land supply and loss (e.g. extant planning permissions and planning applications or losses to permitted development)
• evidence of market demand (including locational and premises requirements of types of business) sourced from local data and market intelligence (such as recent surveys of business needs, discussions with developers and property agents and engagement with business and economic forums)
• wider market signals relating to economic growth, diversification and innovation (including labour demand, labour supply techniques, past take-up analysis and consultation with relevant organisations and studies on business trends), and
• any evidence of market failure (e.g. physical or ownership constraints that prevent the employment site being used effectively)
• assessing need and allocation space for logistics which have distinct locational requirements that need to be considered for planning policies separate from general industrial land. These are likely to require significant amounts of land, access to strategic transport networks, sufficient power capacity and access to skilled local labour. The scale and most appropriate location for these sites would then need to be considered for meeting any identified need
• addressing specific locational requirements of specialist or new sectors, including the important role that clustering of certain industries (e.g. some high tech, engineering, digital, creative and logistics activities) has in supporting collaboration, innovation, productivity, sustainability and driving economic prospects

Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023:

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill received Royal Assent in October 2023, which made provisions for the setting of levelling-up missions to address geographical disparities across England as well as introducing planning reforms. This would have potential implications upon the delivery and funding of some development sites within Leeds, as well as impact the way in which local planning policies are created, interpreted and monitored.

These planning reforms include the introduction of a new 30-month timeframe for creating a new local plan with a new local plan procedure, introduction of national development management policies (which are yet to be published and consulted on) which take precedent over local development plans, inclusion of design codes within development plans, replacement of supplementary planning documents with supplementary plans, remove the statutory “duty to cooperate” with other authorities and replacement with a new alignment test, and the replacement of Environmental Impact Assessments, Sustainability Appraisals and Strategic Environmental Assessments with Environmental Outcome Reports.

Sub-Regional

The West Yorkshire Plan (2023):

The West Yorkshire Plan was prepared by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and five Local Authorities, in consultation and partnership with a range of private, public, voluntary and community sector partners. This sets an overall vision to create a brighter West Yorkshire that works for all – an engine room of ideas and creativity, where anyone can make a home.

Five missions are identified to help deliver this vision:

• A prosperous West Yorkshire – an inclusive economy with well paid jobs
• A happy West Yorkshire – great places and healthy communities
• A well-connected West Yorkshire – a strong transport system
• A sustainable West Yorkshire – making lives greener
• A safe West Yorkshire – a region where everyone can flourish

This provides context of the region, including being home to over 2.4m people, a workforce of 1.2m and around 95,000 businesses. Key features of the region’s economy include:

• advanced manufacturing (specialism in textiles, furniture and clothing),
• a fast-growing digital sector with major tech employers, 
• being a global leader in healthcare technology with six government health headquarters (over 22% of the UK’s digital health jobs are based in West Yorkshire)
• UK’s largest regional finance centre with international strengths in FinTech including a growing financial cluster of public and private capital
• voluntary and community sector enables communities to understand, connect, and utilise their innate skills, gifts, and knowledge to drive solutions

Leeds City Region Strategic Economic Plan 2016-2036:

The Leeds City Region Strategic Economic Plan 2016-2036 (SEP2) was prepared jointly by Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership and West Yorkshire Combined Authority and published in 2016. 

This sets out a transformative vision to create growth, jobs and benefits across West Yorkshire; “To be a globally recognised economy where good growth delivers high levels of prosperity, jobs and quality of life for everyone”. It also sets out ten headline priorities under the four priorities of ‘growing business’, ‘skilled people, better jobs’, ‘clean energy and environmental resilience’, and ‘infrastructure for growth'.

In order to achieve this, the City Region will deliver up to 35,000 jobs and £3.7bn of annual economic output by 2036 becoming an above average contributor to the UK economy, exceed the national average on high level skills and become a NEET-free (not in employment, education or training) City Region, and make good progress on Headline Indicators.

Partnership will be a central approach for a shared intent of ‘good growth’, which means “achieving both the right quantity and the right quality of growth; creating a strong, productive and resilient economy where a radical uplift in business competitiveness, productivity and profits goes hand in hand with access to good jobs that pay higher wages, and where all residents have access to opportunity and enjoy improved quality of life.”

The SEP identifies Employment Growth Areas, with Leeds (Aire Valley) Enterprise Zone already being agreed within SEP1 and Leeds Bradford International Airport employment zone being agreed for SEP2.

Whilst no longer current Government policy, the SEP2 presents Leeds City Region within the context of Northern Powerhouse, providing a connection between Northern Powerhouse capabilities and Leeds City Region sectors / assets. Leeds City Region sectors identified are digital and creative industries, low carbon and environmental industries, health and life sciences, innovative manufacturing, and financial and professional services sector, and those assets being identified as strong links to construction, transport, and food and drink, and concentration of higher and further education institutions.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority Strategic Economic Framework

The Strategic Economic Framework was prepared by West Yorkshire Combined Authority and published in 2020, and sets out a vision for West Yorkshire to be “recognised globally as a great place with a strong, successful economy where everyone can build great businesses, careers and lives, supported by a superb environment and world-class infrastructure.”

This provides context on the region, and identifying key strengths and challenges for the region and a vision for the future. Five priorities underpin what the Strategic Economic Framework aims to achieve:

• Boosting productivity
• Enabling inclusive growth
• Tackling the climate emergency
• Delivering 21^st century transport
• Securing money and powers

Employment and Skills Framework 2021

The Employment and Skills Framework was prepared by West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Enterprise Partnership and published in 2021, and is a key document of the Strategic Economic Framework. This sets strategic priorities and indicative actions for employment and skills in West Yorkshire, with an overall vision for “West Yorkshire to be a world-leading region where investment in skills, training and education, and support for employers go hand in hand to create a diverse, inclusive, and highly skilled workforce with good jobs, leading to sustained improvements in the quality of life for all.”

This sets out the blueprint for a future-ready skills system, main strategic priorities, important cross-cutting themes and key skills partnerships. Those main strategic priorities are:

• Quality technical education
• Great education connected to business
• Accessing and progressing in good work
• Creating a culture of investment in workforce skills
• Driving innovation and productivity through high level skills

STEM-intensive sector segments (engineering and manufacturing, infrastructure skills, digital skills, and health and social care) have been identified to make a major contribution to productivity and will play a central role in development of the regional economy. Economic priority has been identified for the health sector, including associated activities in health technologies and innovation. Other key employment sectors include hospitality, retail, social care and leisure, which whilst offer limited potential for productivity growth, still play an important role in the economy and to inclusive growth.

Specific labour market requirements for sectors are set out within the annual West Yorkshire Labour Market Analysis.

HealthTech Strategy 2022-2027:

The HealthTech Strategy aims to “to capitalise on the exceptional regional Healthtech strengths across West Yorkshire and the Leeds City Region to drive both future economic prosperity and improve health outcomes. Ultimately improving population health and wealth through HealthTech innovation” with Healthtech being broadly defined as “new products and/or services relating to the health sector and/or the health and wellbeing of individuals”.

The states that the region has been recognised by central government as a high potential opportunity area for woundcare, regenerative tissue, AI and data analytics. However, the region is not currently seen as the leading HealthTech cluster nationally, due to the fragmented nature of the system and the lack of adoption of products and services into practice. This means the region does not currently reach its full potential for residents and businesses, with key regional assets across industry and academia and within public sector infrastructure, including the region’s first cross-sector Healthtech Cluster.

Local

Adopted Local Plan:

The statutory development plan in Leeds is made up of several plans, setting out the Council’s vision and strategy for the district up until 2033. The documents which make up the current Local Plan are:

• Aire Valley Leeds Area Action Plan (AVLAAP) – November 2017: This provides the planning framework to guide the regeneration of the lower Aire Valley through planning policies and allocations for housing and employment.
• Core Strategy– November 2014: This sets out the strategic policy framework for Leeds up to 2028 (and 2033 for housing), compromising of a long-term spatial vision and strategic objectives, a spatial strategy, thematic policies and a monitoring and implementation framework.
  • The Core Strategy was amended by the Core Strategy Selective Review (CSSR) in September 2019, setting a revised housing requirement up to 2033 and amending and introducing new policies on housing, green space and sustainability 
• Site Allocations Plan (SAP)– July 2019: This allocates and sets new policies for housing, employment, retail and greenspace to ensure enough land is available in appropriate locations to meet growth targets set out in the Core Strategy.
  • Following adoption of the SAP, a High Court challenge was received in 2019, which subsequently and issued a decision and ordered relief in 2020 which resulted in 37 housing sites in the Green Belt to be considered as not adopted until re-examined. The remitted part of the SAP subsequently underwent examination and in January 2024, the remitted part of the SAP was considered legally compliant and was adopted in January 2024.
• Natural Resources and Waste Local Plan (NRWLP) – January 2013: This sets out where land is needed to manage resources in Leeds (e.g. minerals, energy, waste and water) up to 2028 and sets out policies to help use these resources efficiently.
• Unitary Development Plan (UDP)– August 2001: This provides the framework for all new developments in Leeds, used as a basis for making decisions regarding land use and planning applications. Numerous policies have been superseded by later Plans, and is gradually being replaced by the emerging Local Plan
  • The UDP was updated by the UDP Review in July 2006, updating the plan in several respects particularly on housing and regeneration.
• Neighbourhood Plans – as of January 2024, the Local Plan contains 21 made Neighbourhood Plans, adopted between March 2017 and September 2023, with 6 plans currently being consulted on.

Allocations for new employment sites (offices, industrial, waste uses) are set out within the Site Allocations Plan (with some sites carried forward from the UDP), AVLAAP and NRWLP. Policies relating to employment and economic development are contained in all Plans.

The Council is currently undergoing a review and update to the Local Plan, firstly consisting of Local Plan Update which seeks to update and introduce new policies in response to the declared Climate Emergency, and Leeds Local Plan 2042 consisting of a more comprehensive review to reflect current needs and priorities, which this ELNA forms part of the evidence base for.

Inclusive Growth Leeds 2023 - 2030:

This sets out a strategy to tackle poverty and inequality and improve the quality of life for all of Leeds residents as part of the Best City Ambition. This sets out nine big ideas across three priorities:

People:

• Tackling poverty and inequality to improve people’s lives
• Supporting people and businesses in a rapidly changing labour market
• Making sure education and training meets local needs

Place:

• Investing in our places and transport to create a sustainable economy and greener future
• Maximising the potential of our city centre and local high streets
• Connecting and strengthening our communities 

Productivity:

• Stimulating innovation which drives and delivers measurable impact towards a healthier, greener and inclusive future
• Helping businesses and organisations to become more productive and thrive in the face of change
• Promoting Leeds as a global destination for people to visit, live, work, study, and invest in

The strategy seeks to support the missions of the West Yorkshire Plan by working with business to attract investment and jobs, improve productivity, increase resilience and achieve growth; invest in talent of all ages to develop the skills and progression needed, support the regional Fair Work Charter to encourage fair pay, good working conditions and promotes diversity; and bold investment to deliver a transformational transport system.

Key development locations have been identified to create jobs and investment at North West Leeds Employment Hub (90ha site to deliver 21st century business park for high growth sectors, Kirkstall Forge, Thorpe Park, Aire Valley Enterprise Zone, South Leeds Gateway and White Rose Park. The strategy also highlights a focus on regenerating city centre fringe neighbourhoods, including Mabgate and Innovation Arc which have potential to deliver employment opportunities.

The strategy also highlights the importance that the digital sector has on Leeds economy and sets out Leeds’ strengths and potential opportunities for the future for Leeds as a Digital City. Other key sectors include cultural and creative, finance and professional services, green and net zero, health, and manufacturing and engineering.

Leeds Best City Ambition:

The Best City Ambition sets out the Council’s overall strategic vision for the future of Leeds with a Team Leeds approach to support one another to make Leeds the Best City in the UK, with the mission to tackle poverty and inequality and improve quality of life. 

This is to be achieved by focusing on improving outcomes across the 3 Pillars of the Best City Ambition; Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon, which are at the heart of the Ambition. They capture the things that make the biggest difference to improving people’s lives in Leeds, as well as many of the big challenges and the best opportunities faced. 

Inclusive growth includes focus on ensuring access to education, skills development, and employment opportunities to help meet people’s needs and the needs of a growing economy, supporting businesses, organisations and social enterprises to be productive, innovative, creative, ambitious and connected to their local community, and stimulating innovation.

The Best City Ambition aims to help partner organisations and local communities in every part of Leeds to understand and support the valuable contribution everyone can offer to make Leeds the best city in the UK.

Progress is monitored through the Best City Ambition scorecard, which sets out indicators across a range of social, health and economic factors.

Employment Floorspace Completion Trends

Monitoring of employment land by the Council enables analysis on the status of employment land in Leeds. Using data collated from planning permissions, and supplemented by other data, including from Valuations Office Agency, Business Rates data and aerial imagery, the status of employment sites can be regularly monitored and presented within the Council’s Economic Land Availability (ELA) dashboard.

This monitors the status of employment sites allocated within the Local Plan, as well as windfall sites and development which comes forward providing more than 500sqm of floorspace, across a range of employment uses, including for industrial and logistics and office uses.

Monitoring for employment uses is available from the start of the current plan period (1^st April 2012).

Industrial & logistics uses:

This shows that between 1^st April 2012 and 31^st March 2025, 665,600sqm of floorspace was developed for industrial and logistics uses on 178.9ha of land. This equates to an annual average delivery of 51,200sqm of floorspace. 135.3ha of this delivered through allocated sites (76%), with 43.6ha coming forward as windfall development (24%). 

Chart ELNA12 below shows the history of take-up of land for industrial & logistics uses in Leeds since 2012, showing low take-up at the start of the plan period (2012-2015), with moderate levels for the five years following, and higher levels in the last few years, apart from 2021/22 which was likely impacted by stalled construction during the Covid-19 pandemic. 2022/23 saw a high level of completions, largely due to the completion of a large Amazon warehouse close to at the Temple Green (Gateway 45) site close to junction 45 of the M1.

 Source: Economic Land Availability (ELA) dashboard

Offices:

Between 2012 and 2025, 326,200sqm of office floorspace was delivered, with 285,000sqm delivered through allocated sites (87%) and 41,200sqm coming forward as windfall (13%). This equates to an annual average delivery of 25,100sqm. The majority of this (77%) was delivered in  the City Centre.  

Chart ELNA13 below shows take-up of office floorspace in Leeds since 2012, also showing low levels of completions at the start of the period with increasing levels of development between 2014 and 2018, with varied levels of completions since, although with the highest level of completions occurring in 2022/23, far exceeding expected annual delivery targets with over 60,000sqm completed in one year.

 Source: Economic Land Availability (ELA) dashboard

Forecasting Future Employment Land Needs

This section sets out the results of the testing of different approaches to forecasting future employment land needs in Leeds. The approaches tested are based on those referred to in the Government’s National Planning Guidance (see Section 3). This provides the evidence base to frame options and select a preferred option for identifying employment requirements in the Leeds Local Plan for the plan period (2024-42).

The forecasts are based upon two of the approaches which the NPG advises should be considered and for which the Council has data available:

1. Sectoral and employment forecasts and projections
2. Analysis based on the past take-up of employment land and property           

Forecasts cover the two broad employment sectors set out below and are made using the latest data available as of March 2025. 

1.    Industrial and logistics sectors - use classes B2 (general industry), B8 (storage and distribution) and E(g)(iii) (light industry)

2.    Office sectors – use class (E(g)(i)

Research and development uses (use class (E(g)(ii)), also falls within the scope of the employment sectors considered in this study but there is limited data to be found within employment forecasts or past take up to enable these needs to be assessed separately. As a result, it is assumed that the specific needs for research & development are small and are broadly encompassed by the space and land requirement identified for the industrial and logistics and office sectors. 

Method 1: Employment forecasts

Employment forecasts can be used to predict the future space and land needed for employment using the following broad method:

1.    Translate employment sectors into those requiring space in broad use classes (e.g. offices, industrial uses, logistics uses) 

2.    Calculate the net change in employment (full-time equivalent job – FTE) over the plan period (2024-42)

3.    Translate into space requirements using standard job density ratios for the sector (average square metres of floorspace per FTE job)

4.    Translate space requirements into land requirement using standard plot density ratios (square metres of floorspace within buildings per hectare of land). This accounts for land requirements other than the building that are commonly associated with development such as car parking, servicing and landscaping. 

Employment forecasts have been drawn from the West Yorkshire Regional Economic Model (REM) The REM is a tool that used to analyse and forecast economic trends within the West Yorkshire region. It integrates various economic indicators and data to provide insights into the region's economic performance and potential future scenarios. For economic forecasting, the REM uses historical data and economic theories to predict future economic conditions. This includes projections of gross value added (GVA), employment, and productivity. It also breaks down economic data by sectors, allowing for a detailed analysis of different industries. This helps in understanding which sectors are driving future growth. REM forecasts were last updated in February 2025 

The latest REM forecasts growth in full time equivalent (FTE) employment in Leeds from 427,000 in 2024 to 446,500 in 2042, an increase of 19,500 or 4.6%. This is a baseline forecast which does not account for the impact of any economic plans or strategies or transport and other infrastructure investments which may encourage economic growth (usually referred to as policy-on scenarios).  

The REM provides a breakdown of employment forecasts across 39 economic sectors. These include sectors directly relevant to employment uses falling into the scope of this study but also other important economic sectors such as retail, health, education and social care. 

The largest employment growth sectors in between 2024 and 2042 are forecast to be:

The sectors showing the largest fall in forecast employment between 2024 and 2042 are:

To undertake the employment floorspace based approach the following methods and data were used:

• Forecast sectoral employment change - uses sectoral FTE employment change between the proposed plan base date of 2024 and the end of the plan period in 2042, taken from the REM forecast (February 2025)
• Translate REM economic sectors into planning use classes – uses the apportionment from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Strategic Employment Land for the Leeds City Region (Appendix B)^[1]. 
• Employment densities (floorspace per FTE job) – uses selective data taken from the Employment Density Guide (3^rd edition), November 2015[2]
  • Offices - uses 15 sqm (gross floor area) taking the 12 sqm net internal area figure for professional services indicated in the guide and then converting to gross floor area. 
  • Industrial– uses 42 sqm (gross floor area) per FTE Job for industrial (average of 36 sqm for light industrial and 47 sqm for Industrial & Manufacturing from the guide).
    • Distribution/Logistics – uses 80 sqm (gross floor area) per FTE (broadly the average of national, regional and ‘Final Mile’ distribution centres from the guide). 

The employment forecast based approach provides a net floorspace/land figure. This figure can therefore be zero or negative when employment forecasts suggest no growth or a fall in employment in certain economic sectors. This is shown in the REM forecast where 24 of the 39 economic sectors show stagnant or falling employment between 2024 and 2042 despite the overall predicted rise in jobs across all sectors. By contrast, the gross need for new employment space can only be a positive figure. The difference will be largely made up by loss of existing employment floorspace (assuming job densities remain the same over time) which is not reflected in the translation between net change in employment and future floorspace/land requirements. 

To overcome this potential deficiency in using the net employment change figure, a further two methods were tested which introduce an allowance for losses to convert the net floorspace/land requirement to a gross figure.

The three methods using employment forecast approach (and losses estimates) are summarised below:

Industrial & Logistics Sectors - Results

For the purposes of this study, the floorspace/land requirements for industrial & logistics sectors are combined. This is because completion and losses data is not available for the uses separately. Most planning permissions granted for development in these sectors allow for the units to be occupied for either industrial or logistics uses and therefore it is difficult to monitor the final occupier use which could in any case change over time without the need for planning permission.

Method 1A: Employment forecast based  

Summary of results:

• FTE jobs in industrial sector are predicted to fall by 1,200 and FTE jobs the logistics sector are predicted to fall by 700 jobs between 2024 and 2042  
• The converts to a net reduction of industrial & logistics floorspace of 110,000 sqm or about 6,000 sqm pa
• This is a net figure which takes no account of the need to replace any stock that is lost during the period i.e. there would be 110,000sqm less space required compared to the existing stock of approximately 5 million sqm
• In reality, there cannot be a negative requirement for new development and some adjustment would need to be made to net requirement so this approach should be discounted as not reasonable

Method 1B: Employment forecast based adjusted for actual delivery over past 10 years

Summary of results:

• Method 1A indicates that there will be net reduction of industrial & logistics floorspace of 110,000 sqm or about 6,000 sqm pa.
• For comparison over the period 2015-25, the same methodology would have predicted a net fall of 1,000 sqm of floorspace per annum. Actual delivery of new floorspace averaged 65,000 sqm pa, a difference of 66,000 sqm.
• This suggests there is a need to adjust the net requirement to reflect the amount of new floorspace requirement to maintain employment levels at the forecast. Making an adjustment of 66,000 sqm to the net requirement would produce an annual delivery target of about 60,000 sqm (-6,000 net + 66,000 adjustment)
• The adjusted requirement for the plan period would be 1,080,000 sqm over 18 years (18 x 60,000 sqm).
• At an average plot ratio (floor area to land area) of 35% this is the land equivalent of 309 hectares.

Method 1C: Employment forecast based adjusted for estimated employment space losses

Summary of results:

• Losses of industrial premises stock was estimated to be an average of 65,000 sqm per annum over the last 10 years.
• If this trend continued 1,170,000 sqm of new stock would need to be built to replace losses over an 18-year plan period.
• Using the employment forecast (Method 1A) and losses assumptions to generate a gross requirement produces a figure of 1,060,000 sqm (-110,000 sqm (net) + 1,170,000 sqm adjustment for losses). This is the land equivalent of to 303 hectares. 

Office Sectors - Results

Method 1A: Employment forecast based  

Summary of results:

• FTE jobs in the office sectors forecast to rise by 16,000 between 2024 and 2042.
• This converts to a net increase in office floorspace of 240,000 sqm or about 13,000 sqm per annum. This is much lower than the 30,000 sqm of new office floorspace delivered each year on average over the past 10 years and can potentially be discounted as an option.
• This is a net figure which takes no account of the need to replace any stock that is lost during the period i.e. there would be 240,000 sqm of additional space on top of the existing floorspace stock of approximately 1.8 million sqm.

Method 1B: Employment forecast based adjusted for actual delivery over past 10 years

Summary of results:

• FTE jobs in the office sectors predicted to rise by 16,000 between 2024 and 2042.
• This converts to a net increase in office floorspace of 240,000 sqm or about 13,000 sqm pa
• For comparison over the period 2015-25, using the same methodology would have forecast a need for 32,000 sqm per annum which is slightly more than the 30,000 sqm completed on average each year.
• An adjustment to the plan period requirement to reflect the marginal over-estimate of floorspace would take the requirement to 200,000 sqm representing an annual delivery target of 11,000 sqm. This reduces the requirement from the net figure and seems unrealistically low and should be discounted as an option. This could be related to changing working from home patterns and employment growth not being as directly related with the need for new space as the methodology would have anticipated.  

Method 1C: Employment forecast based adjusted for estimated employment space losses

Summary of results:

• Losses of existing office stock were estimated to be an average of 35,000 sqm per annum over the last 10 years.
• If this trend continued 630,000 sqm of new stock would need to be built to replace losses over an 18-year plan period i.e to break even.

• Using the employment forecast (Method 1A) and losses assumptions to generate a gross requirement produces a figure of 870,000 sqm (240,000 sqm net + 630,000 sqm adjustment for losses), equivalent of 48,000 sqm per annum. As can be seen from the result based on take-up outlined under Method 2 below this is much higher than recent take-up and is based on the continuation of relatively high level of loss of existing stock.  

Method 2: Take-up based

This method uses data on completions of new employment floorspace in Leeds over the last 10 years to generate an annual average and projects that level of development forward over the 18 -year plan period (2024-42). All completions data is taken from the Council’s economic land availability (ELA) dashboard which can be viewed here. A ten-year average has been used because this can reflect longer-term economic cycles as advised in the NPG.

Past performance does not necessarily provide an accurate estimate of future need, but it does help to provide parameters for what can be realistically delivered. In determining the value of past completions as an indication of need, it is important to consider whether there have been any significant constraints to delivery which could have artificially reduced potential take-up over the assessment period. In Leeds there is evidence that there have been constraints over availability/deliverability of some sites identified in the supply over the last 10 years which potentially include:

• Safeguarding of nearly 50 hectares of existing developable employment land from development for HS2 / future rail schemes from 2015 onwards.
• The allocation of some employment land (previously Green Belt) took place later in the plan period (July 2019 and January 2024), so the full supply of land anticipated in the Core Strategy has not been available for all the last 10 years, particularly when accounting for the necessary lead in period for development of new sites.
• Some smaller brownfield allocated/identified sites have not come forward for development as anticipated and need to be re-assessed in relation to their availability/deliverability.

 To make an allowance for potential constraints, two further methods have been tested which seek to adjust the baseline take-up-based approach to reflect potential constraints. The three methods used based on take-up are set out in more detail below:

Industrial & Logistics Sectors - Results

Method 2A: Take-up based  

Summary of results:

• An average of 65,000 sqm of industrial floorspace per year was completed during the previous 10-year period (2015-25).
• This equates to an overall requirement of about 1,170,000 sqm (65,000 sqm x 18 years) if extrapolated to the period 2042-42. This is a land equivalent of 334 hectares. 

Method 2B: Take-up based adjusted for known constraints on land delivery 

Summary of results:

• There have been known constraints on the delivery of allocated employment land related to HS2 safeguarding. This has impacted about 48 hectares of allocated land. The land continues to be safeguarded awaiting the conclusions of a study considering potential options for getting high speed rail to Leeds. Qualitatively this is the type of land the market has been delivering over the past 10 years.
• Adding the full quantified impact of 48 hectares (which could accommodate about 170,000 sqm of space) and assuming this could have been delivered over the last 10 years it would have added up to 17,000 sqm per annum to past take-up (above the 65,000 sqm per annum completed). This produces a revised take-up of 65,000sqm + 17,000sqm = 82,000 sqm per annum. This equates to 1,480,000 sqm or land equivalent of 423 hectares over an 18- year plan period. 

Method 2C: Take-up based adjusted to national and regional averages 

Summary of results:

• Over the last 10 years (2013-23[4]), Leeds has lost 5.2% of industrial floorspace in net terms i.e. losses have exceeded new floorspace. 
• The comparative benchmark figures are:

• Core Cities (Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff): -4.2% fall in stock of industrial floorspace over the last 10 years
• West Yorkshire: 0% - stock of industrial floorspace the same as at the start of the plan period  
• Yorkshire & Humber region: +4.2% gain in total stock of floorspace over the last 10 years
• England: +3.8% gain in total stock of floorspace over the last 10 years
  • Based on the benchmark figure and the existing industrial stock of 5.2 million sq m at the start of the assessment period in 2013 this would mean:
    • Core Cities: An additional 50,000 sqm over 10 years to match the average performance (5,000 sqm per annum) which equates to about 90,000 sqm over an 18-year plan period.  
    • West Yorkshire: An additional 270,000 sqm to match the average (27,000 sqm per annum) which equates to about 490,000 sqm over an 18-year plan period.
    • Yorkshire & Humber region: An additional 490,000 sqm to match the average (49,000 sqm per annum) which equates to about 880,000 sqm over an 18-year plan period.
    • England: An additional 470,000 sqm to match the national average (47,000 sqm per annum) which equates to about 850,000 sqm over an 18-year plan period.
      • Based on adjustment that reflect the gap to the national average (the regional average would be slightly higher) and adding this to the baseline take-up figure generated using Method 2A, the plan period requirement would be 2,020,000 sqm (1,170,000 sqm + 850,000 sqm) or about 112,000 sqm per annum. This equates to a land equivalent of 577 hectares.  

Office Sectors - Results

Method 2A: Take-up based  

Summary of results:

• An average of 30,000 sqm of office floorspace per year was completed during the previous 10-year period (2015-25).
• This equates to an overall requirement of about 540,000 sqm (30,000 sqm x 18 years) if extrapolated to the period 2042-42. 

Method 2B: Take-up based adjusted for known constraints on land delivery 

Summary of results:

• The existing supply of office sites was not significantly impacted by HS2 safeguarding directions. 
• There has otherwise been a heathy supply of office site options (allocations and planning permissions) to suggest that land supply was not unduly constrained.
• Considered that there is no clear justification for adjusting the baseline take-up figures upwards. 

Method 2C: Take-up based adjusted to national and regional averages 

Summary of results:

• Over the last 10 years (2013-23[5]), Leeds has lost 4.1% of office floorspace stock in net terms i.e. losses have exceeded new floorspace. 

• The comparative benchmark figures are:

• Core Cities(Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff): -7.1% fall in stock of office floorspace during last 10 years.
  • West Yorkshire: -5.8% fall in stock of office floorspace during last 10 years.
  • Yorkshire & Humber region: -6.4% fall in stock of office floorspace during last 10 years.
  • England: -7.7% fall in stock of office floorspace during last 10 years.
    • Whilst the stock of office floorspace in Leeds has fallen this reflects wider trends found elsewhere. In fact, Leeds has outperformed all comparator locations including the regional and national average over the assessment period.   
    • As a result, there is no clear justification for adjusting the baseline take-up figures upwards using this method. 

Qualitative Employment Needs

In addition to the quantitative needs, the allocation of land and choice of sites will need to reflect the specific locational needs and site specifications in terms of unit types and sizes of particular sectors. 

In this respect, the Council commissioned Mott MacDonald in 2022 to undertake a strategic preliminary review of the employment land market in Leeds with a review period of 2017 – 2022 (Q1 only), providing an insight into recent economic implications, including Brexit, Covid-19 and HS2 uncertainty, which was based upon desktop research, real estate database analysis and workshops with office and industrial agents and developers undertaken by Aspinall Verdi. This has provided necessary qualitative and contextual information to help inform LLP2042.

The key considerations and implications for LLP2042 and industrial and office requirements raised from this study are set out in Appendix B. 

Review of current employment supply

An Employment Supply Site Review has been conducted by the Council, which has reviewed all sites within the existing employment supply to determine which sites remain available and achievable and could potentially come forward for delivery over the next Plan Period to help meet future employment needs. 

The NPPF and NPG (Housing and economic land availability assessment) have been used to inform the methodology of this Review, particularly in the assessment of a site’s suitability, availability and achievability:

• In assessing for suitability, a Site Assessment process will be undertaken separately and will extensively assess supply sites against a set of comprehensive indicators (including location, flood risk, biodiversity, local plan designations, heritage, accessibility, amongst others).
• In assessing for availability, the existing use / vacant status was identified for allocated sites to determine whether the site was potentially available for new employment development. Sites with extant planning permission or under construction were considered to be available.
• In assessing for achievability, the activity of all sites were established to provide an indication of whether the site is likely to come forward for its intended use, including any planning activity or history, and any construction activity.

Given the complexity and individual circumstances that can impact a site, sites were categorised into the following five categories of deliverability using the above information:

• Certain: Extremely likely development will be completed for intended use. 
  • For example: sites that are under construction, a construction start is confirmed to commence soon.
• Probable: Likely development will be completed for its intended use, although with some factors not giving full certainty. These sites will be monitored to ensure whether the site is delivered or not.
  • For example: a planning application is still pending determination, planning application approved 2-3 years ago with no activity, coming forward as a later phase of a masterplan, a recent technical start. 
• Possible: Development may come forward for its intended use, but site constraints would need to be explored which may be impacting deliverability. These sites might require some engagement with landowners at a later stage to address any constraints or reflect the latest plans for the site, and monitored as they progress through the planning process to ensure whether the site is delivered or not.
  • For example: sites with planning permission that has recently expired, only at pre-application stage, a technical start which commenced over 5 years ago, suitable sites with no activity in the last 5 years).  
• Unlikely: Unlikely development will come forward for its intended use, with site constraints that might not be mitigated or where the landowner’s intentions to develop the site may have changed. These sites will require engagement with landowners at a later stage to explore site constraints and future plans for the site before they can be considered deliverable for the next Plan Period.
  • For example: sites with a planning application for other uses, no activity or stalled construction on a site over the longer term, site no longer looks suitable for development for employment uses, site is constrained by HS2 safeguarding land / topography, existing non-employment use still in operation. 
• Not deliverable: Very unlikely development will come forward for its intended use, with evident site constraints restricting development coming forward or no indication for development to emerge. Sites or residual land that are below the monitoring size threshold <0.25ha land capacity for industrial sites) were also discounted and added to this category.

 Following this Following this Review, the 127 sites were reviewed as following:

Sites reviewed as being ‘possible’ or ‘unlikely’ will require separate engagement with landowners before being considered deliverable for the next Plan Period, which will provide an opportunity to explore plans for the site and whether any constraints are restricting delivery. The Regulation 18 (Issues and Options) consultation will provide first opportunity for landowners to comment on any review made for their site, as well as engagement with the Call for Sites process.

This leaves approximately 500,000sqm of office floorspace and 950,000sqm of industrial floorspace (equivalent of 245ha of industrial land) in the existing supply, as at March 2025, that has been provisionally assessed as having potential to contribute to addressing future employment needs across the next Plan Period.

A full schedule of sites reviewed is available Appendix 1a and 1b, as well as a schedule of all completed sites between April 2024 and March 2025 in Appendix 2, to provide a baseline position of 2024/25. 

Unmet employment floorspace/land requirements 

This section reviews the future employment floorspace/land need approaches set out in (see Section 5) and the current supply following a review of availability/deliverability to identify (see Section 6) to establish the unmet employment floorspace/land requirements that will form the basis of the allocations/broad locations that will need to be identified for the 2024-42 plan period. 

Industrial & Logistics Sectors  

Section 5 sets out the results of several approaches to identifying future employment needs for industrial uses by applying two principal methods based on employment forecasting and past take-up.

The employment forecasting approach identifies a plan period floorspace requirement for industrial and logistics uses between 0 (Method 1A) and 1.06 million (Method 1C) square metres (equating to 303 hectares of land). Method 1A is not reasonable and is discounted because there is a need to plan positively in accordance with the NPPF (para 86a).   

The baseline take-up approach (Method 2A) suggests a floorspace requirement of 1.17 million square metres (334 hectares) which is close but slightly higher than the upper figure generated by applying an employment forecasting approach with an allowance for losses (Method 1C). This provides a useful baseline before considering any additional needs that are not necessarily reflected in past development such as the needs of a modern economy and specific sectors identified in the NPPF (para 86c). 

Method 2B seeks to identify constraints to past delivery focusing on known and quantifiable impacts based on the safeguarding of existing employment land for HS2/future rail schemes since 2015. As this constraint is known it is suggested this should be used to add a further allowance to the baseline take-up-based requirement to provide a lower figure in a range of needs for industrial & logistics floorspace. This would be 1.48 million square metres (423 hectares land equivalent) for the plan period. 

Method 2C compares delivery and losses of existing space in Leeds to other areas and suggests that Leeds has underperformed in terms of delivery over the past 10 years – this potentially reflects suppressed demand related to constraints on land availability/deliverability. If it is assumed that Leeds had delivered at a similar rate to the national average, and this is added onto past take-up, then the requirement for the plan period is calculated to be about 2 million squares metres (575 hectares land equivalent). It is considered that this could provide an upper range target for the plan because it represents a significant (70%) uplift on past delivery rates. On this basis it does provide an additional margin that can help meet to needs of the modern economy that may not be reflected in past take-up figures.  

Considering the above issues one approach would be the use the needs identified under Method 2B (82,000 sqm per annum) as a minimum delivery target which is used for monitoring purposes with the potential need identified under Method 2C (112,000 sqm or 575 hectares) as a stretch target which provides the basis for making new allocations of land to support increased delivery. 

Margin of choice 

A further consideration in making new allocations of land to support delivery targets is whether a margin of choice should be added to the base requirement. This is usually expressed as an additional percentage of the requirement and 10% is usually considered to provide an appropriate degree of margin over the long term. A margin of choice would help provide flexibility which would allow the market to operate more efficiently, recognising that not all sites will be suitable for specific user requirements and provision of a wider range and choice of sites offers a better chance of meeting targets. 

Without a margin of choice, every identified site would need to be delivered in full to meet identified needs. Past evidence suggests this is not a realistic assumption as sites can stall or be granted planning permission for another use.   

Allowance for windfall development and contributions HS2 safeguarded land

Windfall development - Past data suggests that sites not identified in the plan can contribute to meeting plan requirements. These can come through redevelopment or infill occurring in existing industrial areas or changes of use and extensions of existing buildings. A detailed analysis of levels of windfall development seen during the past 10 years is set out in Appendix F. This suggests that on average about 15,700 sqm of floorspace for industrial and logistics uses arises from windfall development each year. This would amount to nearly an additional 290,000 sqm over an 18-year plan period. Recognising that windfall development in 2024/25 will already be captured as a completion contributing towards meeting the requirement and some future windfall development will have planning permission and will be captured in the current supply figure (assumption is the next 3 years will fall in this category), to avoid double counting it is assumed an additional allowance for windfall should apply to 14 years of the plan period. The total figure would for the windfall allowance would therefore be around 220,000 sqm. The equates to just over 10% of the highest employment requirement identified under Method 2C. 

HS2 safeguarded land – around 48 hectares of existing employment land falls within the HS2 safeguarding directions. At this point the land is not available for development and has been discounted from the current supply of land that has potential to be carried forward to meet the employment land requirement. However, the future of safeguarded land remains uncertain, awaiting a final government decision on the future of rail connections into Leeds. This means there is a possibility that some or all safeguarded will be released during the plan period. This land is located within existing urban areas and would otherwise be suitable, available and deliverable for employment development. The suggested approach is to treat HS2 safeguarded land as a further margin of choice to the land supply. This would be in addition to the windfall allowance.

Taking into account the both the potential and uncertainty associated with windfall development and HS2 safeguarded land, the preferred approach is to plan to meet the employment land requirement through the contribution from existing supply that remains suitable, available and deliverable and new employment allocations made through the Leeds Local Plan update. Windfall development and possibly HS2 safeguarded land (if partly or wholly released from safeguarding direction) providing a margin of choice of at least 10% of the requirement.        

Need for new allocations for industrial & logistics uses

The employment floorspace/land requirement for the plan period (2024/42) will be met by a combination of the following sources:

• Actual completions for 2024/25
• Deliverable extant planning permissions
• Existing allocations that remain suitable, available and deliverable
  • New industrial & logistics land allocations 

Table ELNA7 provides an initial assessment of the likely need for new allocations to support the industrial land requirement identified under Method 2C which is the preferred approach set out above. The residual requirement is calculated by deducting the contribution from completions and current supply from the overall requirement. This has been deducted as a floorspace figure (where this is already known) and then converted to a land requirement to understand the total quantum of allocations required. Further work will be needed to assess the suitability, availability and deliverability of sites in the current supply. The assumed contribution from the current supply set out in the table below is based on the initial review of employment sites (Section 6) and includes all certain, probable and possible sites.

Office sectors

Section 5 sets out the results of several approaches to identifying future employment needs for office uses by applying two principal methods based on employment forecasting and past take-up.

The employment forecasting approach identifies a plan period floorspace requirement for office and logistics uses between 200,000 sqm (Method 1B) and 940,000 sqm (Method 1C). Method 1C is heavily influenced by the effect of accounting for losses of existing floorspace continuing at the same level that has occurred over recent years. This is useful as a guide to the maximum potential for new office space needed but it less useful as a target because there may not be a need to replace lost office space at the same level. Losses of existing office space have been particularly high over recent years reflecting a change in permitted development rights to allow conversion from offices to residential without the need for planning permission and the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting changes to working patterns.   

The baseline take-up approach (Method 2A) suggests a floorspace requirement of 540,000 sqm. There is no evidence that new office development has been constrained by a lack of sites and Leeds has performed relatively well in comparison to other areas, so this provides a strong indicator of long-term trends. It is considered that minimum delivery target of 30,000 sqm should be used for monitoring purposes.   

Need for new allocations for office uses

The review of current office set out in Section 6 shows that there is a potential current supply of about 500,000 sqm of floorspace considering all certain, probable and possible sites. Adding the 15,000 sqm of floorspace already completed in 2024/25 gives a potential contribution of 515,000 sqm from existing sites. Further work will be needed to assess the suitability, availability and deliverability of sites in the current supply.

This does not suggest there is a need to make new allocations for office development given there is a potential residual requirement amounting to as little as 35,000 sqm of the proposed requirement. Monitoring shows that office development is delivered differently to industrial and logistics In Leeds with the majority (77%) being delivered within multi-storey mixed-use development in the city centre where there a strong demand for office space. This will be different to many local authority areas where there is a limited demand for provision of office space within centres and new development is led by out of centre business parks.

Given this potential within the city centre, the preferred approach is for the plan to identify specific locations where development of additional office space will be encouraged focused on the expanded city centre and supported by potential growth in existing out of centre business parks in sustainable locations. 

Within the city centre new office development can be supported by identifying mixed use allocations and/or broad locations of change where residential, office and other commercial uses would be appropriate but without specifying a floorspace target for offices on each site. In this way the potential of the city centre is recognised but there is acceptance that market demand will be an important determinant of the use of specific sites.

Outside the city centre there are several existing business parks that have potential to grow through continued implementation of existing planning permissions and/or through infill development and redevelopment. Three existing locations are next to existing or proposed railway stations, Thorpe Park, White Rose Office Park and Kirkstall Forge, and therefore have potential to support sustainable development. Identifying these locations as suitable for office development provides further flexibility in the supply of site opportunities.

Considering this additional potential, there is likely to sufficient locations within the district to deliver new office floorspace at a rate much higher that the minimum proposed target of 30,000 sqm per annum but this will depend on market demand.    

APPENDICES A-F

Appendix A: Stock of Employment Floorspace Analysis

Data is published by the Valuations Office Agency on the number of properties and total floorspace of industrial and office premises in Leeds. The latest data available is for 2023, and dates back to 2001. This provides a snapshot of the amount of space for employment uses operating in Leeds for each year, and gives an indication of the net change in employment space and can be compared against the comparable regional and national figures.

Industrial:

A s of March 2023, Leeds had an industrial floorspace stock of 4,930,000sqm, with 7,910 registered industrial businesses.

Chart ELNA14 below shows a slowly and continual decreasing industrial market in Leeds, particularly between 2007 and 2015, where the industrial floorspace decreased by 15% and which never recovered since, although has been relatively stable since seeing only a 3% decrease since 2015. Despite this, the number of registered industrial properties has been increasing generally each year since 2011, which might indicate the average floorspace and the density of individual industrial units in Leeds has been decreasing.

 Source: Valuations Office Agency

Comparing this against the changes in industrial floorspace for West Yorkshire, Yorkshire, England Core Cities, and England, Table ELNA8 below provides the changes in industrial floorspace over the last one-year, five-year, and ten-year trends for each of these. This shows losses in industrial floorspace for all trend periods in Leeds, with no losses seen regionally and nationally, and with Leeds performing slightly better compared to the average of the English Core Cities. 

This appears to indicate a generally underperforming or constrained industrial sector in Leeds when compared to Yorkshire & Humber, and which could be explained by 50ha of employment land being constrained by HS2 safeguarding directions since 2017, as well as the conversion of older industrial buildings to other uses particularly in and around the City Centre.

Source: Valuations Office Agency

Offices:

As of March 2023, Leeds had an office floorspace stock of 1,800,000sqm, with 8,300 registered office businesses.

Chart ELNA15 below shows a healthier office market in Leeds, seeing growth of 18% between 2001 and 2008, although with the global recession halting this level of growth with an increase of just 2% between 2008 and 2020, and with a recent decrease of 4% since 2020 reflecting the impacts of Covid-19 and uncertainty surrounding the office market and general working patterns. The number of registered office businesses increased annually up until 2019, whereby this figure has since remained relatively stagnant.

 Source: Valuations Office Agency

Table ELNA9 below shows that office floorspace stock has decreased for all regions, although for the loss in Leeds’ stock comparing favourably to the regional and national losses, with 6% seen lost across all of Yorkshire and nearly 8% across England in the last ten years. This generally indicates a strong and healthy office sector in Leeds, although with recent losses may be reflective of a change in working patterns and lower demand for new office floorspace.

Source: Valuations Office Agency

Appendix B: Summary of Preliminary Strategic Review of Employment Land (2022) – Mott MacDonald & Aspinall Verdi

Mott MacDonald were commissioned by the Council to undertake a strategic review of the employment land market in Leeds, providing an insight into recent economic implications, including Brexit, Covid-19 and HS2 uncertainty, being based upon desktop research, real estate database analysis and workshops with office and industrial agents and developers undertaken by Aspinall Verdi.

Whilst the ELNA should be read alongside this strategic review as this also forms part of the evidence base for LLP2042, the main summarised points relevant to the scope of this ELNA are set out below.

Leeds Economy:

Identifies that Leeds’ economy grew stronger than the UK average between 2015-19, but with a larger output decline during 2020. Employment levels have fluctuated, but generally outperformed the UK average.

Of the five fastest growing employment sectors, three are office based services (including technical / professional, information and communication, and administration), with transport and storage also being a fast-growing sector, whilst retail, manufacturing and financial services being the most declining or weakest sectors. This reflects the significance of the office sector in Leeds, whilst recognising the role the transport and storage sector has for demand for distribution facilities.

Leeds has benefitted from a rapid growth in micro and small business starts, being above the UK average, increasing the demand for a variety of small business units and general industrial parks, with slower growth for larger businesses (250+ employees) which might reflect businesses relocating outside of Leeds to more accommodating sites as well as the drop in manufacturing.

High satisfaction was identified from businesses in relation to their current premises when looking at results from the 2021 LCR business survey, with the barriers to growth being identified as weak demand for products/services, Brexit, access to finance, and access to skilled labour (as well as at the time Covid-19 restrictions). In 2022, cost pressures were the most pressing concern, reflecting the combined energy and cost of living crises, as well as weakening consumer markets and labour shortages.

It is worth noting that due to the timing of the review, impacts on employment and productivity were still strongly associated with Covid-19 and noted it was unclear whether an expected return in demand would come, as well as the impacts of longer-term effects such as home working.

Industrial Market Analysis:

Demand has been driven by retailers and distribution firms, being attracted by proximity to the motorway network and key population centres around West Yorkshire providing access to skilled workforces. The occupier market has remained strong with low vacancies (low as 3.3% in 2022) following multiple years of positive net absorption and relatively few new developments not increasing availability. Investor demand is also high, driven by the continued strength of the occupier market and strong investment sentiment toward industrial premises. This shows a strong industrial market in Leeds, although with some indications of constraints in the supply.

Mott MacDonald also looked at leasehold and freehold deals to demonstrate industrial real estate activity, although which provides a snapshot up until 2022 Q1. Between 2017 and 2022, there were 682 leasehold deals totalling 9.8m sqft, with an equal split between Grade A (new) and Grade B space where reported. Most deals were for smaller floorspaces (46% for 2,001-10,000sqft) which provides an indication of what size industrial businesses are seeking. 54% of the floorspace came forward in the larger 50,000+ sqft floorplates, but with only a few deals indicating lack of activity for larger units which could be symptomatic of a lack of supply of larger plots in accessible and available locations. 

Freehold deals in Leeds has been one of the heavily traded industrial areas in Yorkshire & Humber, with annual average sales of £108m with 2021/22 seeing £197m worth of assets sold. There were 148 ‘investment’ deals (those for investment purposes, and reflects speculative development and indicates demand from leaseholders) totalling 5.8m sqft between 2017-22, which indicates high demand for development of larger floorplates from logistic uses which offers lower risk investment as well as for distribution uses on a speculative basis. There were 104 ‘occupational deals’ (those purchased to occupy themselves, and reflect properties that are being built for specific business requirements) totalling 2.1m sqft, with deals being more active in the 2,001-50,000sqft floorplates, with the lack of larger floorplate occupational deals indicating land supply is a constraining factor and the lack of small floorplates could indicate a higher investment risk for renting out smaller units and lack of affordability of smaller companies that may occupy the space to become owner occupiers. Asking rent in Leeds is much higher 

Industrial deals were located primarily in LS27, LS12, LS9 and LS10, further demonstrating the requirement for industrial premises to have direct access to major road networks highlighted by the agglomeration of units located south and east of Leeds City Centre close/ adjacent to the M62, M621, M1 and A1(M).

Contextually, the industrial market has partially reflected identified changes to the wider economy, particularly with the move to online retailing and the subsequent growth of retail and trading firms and subsequent demand for large transport and distribution companies, but there is a challenge in sourcing large strategic plots around key road and motorway junctions and interchanges which might require the need for more sites. This has led to firms locating outside Leeds (particularly Doncaster, Wakefield and Selby) where there is greater availability of appropriate land close to the motorway network. 

Mott MacDonald also suggest that new industrial developments have not specifically catered for requirements for hi-tech manufacturing or bio-science businesses, which are attracted to Leeds due to a highly skilled workforce. Developing sites for these uses could help Leeds differentiate its industrial offering from cheaper premises in competitor locations. These could be delivered around universities, colleges and hospitals, but there is also opportunity to deliver this around existing allocations around the airport which have yet to be taken up, indicating constraints due to lack of accessibility to the motorway, but these hi-tech and science businesses prefer access to public transport which this benefits from.

Industrial Workshop Summary:

The workshops undertaken by Aspinall Verdi identified that most demand is for small industrial units (up to 10,000sqft) which is in undersupply, and which tend to be in north / north-west Leeds. There’s also the need for large-scale sites to cater for wider demand, with the largest being up to 150,000sqft at Logic Leeds but some occupiers expressing interest of 1m sqft. Main warehouse locations are in south Leeds for last mile logistics and proximity to M62 and A1(M). Opportunity is identified in releasing poor functioning Green Belt land to provide sustainably designed high-tech manufacturing and / or industrial uses, particularly when compared to residential development.

Access to the motorway is a key factor of locational demand, with general requirements for access to specialised skills, loyalty to existing location, access to R&D and higher education. Policy should be more flexible in its recognition of industrial uses (e.g. research and development, advanced manufacturing, life sciences). Subsector specific requirements include large flat sites with high quality space and proximity to Leeds conurbation for warehousing, priority for access to employment and skills over transport access for manufacturing, and modern well specified space with good communication infrastructure for hi-tech and industrial occupiers. Sites should also make consideration for attracting and retaining higher skilled workers, including design, energy efficiency, on-site office space, good access and amenities.

The issues facing the industrial market in Leeds was raised to be a competitive regional market and often losing out to Wakefield and Doncaster for the ‘big box’ developments, as well as HS2 safeguarding land constraining some large sites where there’s strong demand. There is also considered to be a lack of land available in the current Plan to meet future demand providing another reason for developers to look outside of Leeds, particularly with a lack of large, flat, accessible sites and demonstrated by the lack of take-up of some allocations around the airport which are considered unsuitable. However, the strength of the warehousing sector which drives demand for these larger sites could be undermining the delivery of smaller industrial units, and the logistics sector is seemingly entering a period of transition. Another reason noted that could drive further demand of new land is that existing stock is becoming old and obsolete and would need to account for the loss of these older, industrial premises (particularly through replacement or demolition of new stock through modern occupier and sustainability / ESG requirements or change of use to other residential or leisure uses.

Office Market Analysis:

Demand for office space has primarily been driven in the City Centre (LS1), with a healthy supply of office units in prime central locations coming forward primarily through speculative development. However, short- and medium-term uncertainty is present in the office market due to the shift to hybrid market and the impacts this will have on the demand for office space. The fastest sectoral growth in Leeds has been for office-based services (technical, professional, administration and support services, information/communication, and real estate), with the second largest sector being for health and social work.

Similarly looking at property deals, there were 991 office leasehold deals between 2017 and 2022 totalling 4.8m sqft. Where the quality of this space was mentioned, 110 was Grade A (new buildings) and 100 Grade B. The majority (27%) of these deals were between 2,001-5,000sqft as well as 1,001-2,000sqft (25%), with just 1% (11 deals) occurring over 50,000sqft although which provided approximately 20% of the total floorspace. Looking at these deals year-by-year, 2018 saw a peak of 296 deals and have decreased slightly each year since. LS1 is the key office location with 40% of these deals, with LS11, LS15 and LS9 being key secondary locations with 5% each being characterised by generally strong, historic office locations close to the City Centre and / or south of the river with primary access to the M621. As of 2022, 415 office leasehold units were available totalling 5.14m sqft, with 2.2m available in LS1 alone.

As for freehold, there were a total of 245 deals made totalling approximately 6.5m sqft. The number of these deals were split 58% for ‘investment’ deals (those for investment purposes reflecting speculative development) totalling 5.8m sqft, and 42% for ‘occupational’ deals (those occupied by the buyer meeting specific business requirements) totalling just 0.75m sqft. Most freehold deals (36%) were also for the 2,001-5,000sqft floorplates but with the majority of the floorspace coming forward in the 50,001-100,000sqft floorplates (1.8m sqft across 22 deals. 41 deals were made under 2,000sqft and just 4 over 250,000sqft. Just as with leasehold deals, 2018 saw a peak of 73 deals and decreased slightly each year since. Only 0.36m sqft was available as of 2022 across 26 units primarily within LS1, LS5 and LS10.

Looking at office requirements, nearly all businesses in Leeds (96%) have a workforce of 1-49 employees, and whilst small, these businesses require incubator and move-on facilities, reflecting the demand shown in the smaller office floorplates. Office space, particularly in the City Centre, would benefit from being versatile to be attractive for these smaller businesses and for creative businesses, and would help absorption of the supply as other businesses adapt to home working.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliance is driving requirements for more modern and sustainable business space, which reflects the dynamic and innovative nature of Leeds’ growing industry sectors, and whilst most businesses express an interest for this type of space this tends to drive up property costs that can only usually be absorbed by larger businesses. Businesses have also become interested in the public realm to attract workers, such as at Wellington Place, South Bank and Eastgate, but concerns are still raised in terms of availability of parking in the City Centre with investment still needed in public transport and active travel routes.

There have been some bespoke office developments outside of the City Centre, such as Munroe K’s plans for a ‘Smart Cities’ Innovation Hub at Rose Business Park with a lab to test and develop new technologies. This provides an example of an attractive proposition for life sciences, bio-med science businesses, and which will help support growth of skilled jobs and build Leeds’ strong science and research base. Further office growth outside of the City Centre will require consideration within strategies to align with public transport connections.

Office Workshop Summary:

The workshops identified most office workspace was in the City Centre and focused around 5,000-15,000sqft units, with the emerging rise of new serviced / managed workspace operators and the need for amenities to offer more flexible office space and attract workers. Outside of the City Centre, there is the potential for expanding existing out of centre office locations (such as Thorp Park and White Rose) and improve connectivity to these, but no apparent demand for new locations. There is some demand for small, affordable space from SMEs and local businesses, and potential to improve the existing stock but issues with ESG compliance and costs. Office sites should also have direct access to major road networks.

There is noted potential growth for life sciences and bio-medical sciences (with a focus on quality of design, improved sense of place, emphasis upon social value and improved connectivity of new developments), creative industries (particularly as part of mixed use developments like Aire Park) and taking opportunities of Leeds’ Innovation District with health innovation, engineering, financial and business services, data analytics and digital technologies.

The issues facing the office sector include strong competition of land, premises and development opportunities from the residential sector (particularly Build to Rent and Permitted Development conversions). Covid-19 has also significantly impacted the office market, reducing demand over the short-term and uncertainty over the long-term and need for on-site amenities which may impact uptake of existing stock and the size and densities of future office development. External factors such as cost of living and inflation have also slowed down the return to office-working. Improvements and alignment is needed for parking and public transport to support the City Centre office market growth, and accessibility is a key consideration for outside of the City Centre.

Appendix C: Schedule of Office Supply Sites (as of March 2025)

Appendix D: Schedule of Industrial Supply Sites (as of March 2025)

Appendix E: Schedule of Completed Sites (1st April 2024 – 31st March 2025)

Appendix F: Analysis of windfall development trends

An analysis of industrial and office development which has come forward on non-allocated land (i.e. windfall employment development) has been conducted for the last ten years (between 2015/16 and 2024/25). This is to provide an indication of the level of windfall development that might come forward in the next Plan Period and how LLP2042 could accommodate this as part of future employment need requirements.

Offices:

26,600sqm of office floorspace came forward as windfall between 2015 and 2025, equating to an annual average of 2,660sqm. The delivery of this for each year is shown in Chart ELNA16 below. 

Source: Economic Land Availability (ELA)

Two thirds of this across three completions came forward as new development (i.e. new office buildings): City Square and Nexus in the City Centre and Adwalton Business Park in Drighlington.

This therefore demonstrates somewhat low levels of office development coming forward through windfall, with the majority coming forward on planned, allocated land.

Industrial:

157,200sqm of industrial floorspace came forward as windfall between 2015 and 2025, equating to an annual average of 15,720sqm. The delivery of this for each year is shown below in Chart ELNA16. 

 Source: Economic Land Availability (ELA)

80% of this development came forward as new development (i.e. new industrial or logistic units). The majority of new industrial development was located in Hunslet (41%), Little London & Woodhouse (21%), Burmantofts (13%) and Wetherby (12%). This therefore represents a somewhat significant contribution to the employment delivery. 

Consideration may need to be made on how constraints in the existing supply (including HS2 safeguarded land and the types of sites in the supply) has impacted delivery coming forward on some allocated sites, which may have contributed to this level of industrial development coming forward on unallocated land.