2.1. This Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) has been prepared to support the key employment policies contained within the adopted LDP to help secure its aims and objectives including:

2.2. This SPG offers advice about how development proposals will be considered in the Vale of Glamorgan to ensure they deliver the economic benefits envisaged whist mitigating their impacts on the environment and local communities. The guidance also clarifies the circumstances where the Council would consider permitting the redevelopment of existing employment land and premises for alternative uses or alternative proposals that facilitate the delivery of employment uses. It also provides guidance on the necessary evidence that applicants are required to submit for proposals involving non employment uses on existing or allocated employment sites.

2.3. The LDP proposals map identifies the larger established employment sites in the Vale of Glamorgan which are listed in Policy MD16 - Protection of Existing Employment Sites and Premises. However, it should be noted that the policy applies to all employment sites including small business premises throughout the Vale of Glamorgan.Accordingly, the scope of this SPG extends to all sites and premises which are classed as an employment use (see paragraph 2.4 below), including vacant units which were last used for employment use.

2.4. For the purposes of LDP Policies MD15 and MD16, 'employment uses' are defined as those that fall within the 'B' Use Class as defined in the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended) as follows:

• B1 Business - Offices (other than those that fall within class A2 such as estate agents, banks, insurance brokers etc.), research and development of products and processes, light industry;
• B2 General Industrial - industrial processes other than one falling within class B1 such as manufacturing and engineering (but exclude incineration purposes, chemical treatment or landfill or hazardous waste);
• B8 Storage or distribution, such as wholesale warehousing, distribution centres, repositories, and also includes open air storage e.g. building merchants.

2.5. However, this strict use class definition can ignore other uses that provide the same economic development benefits as 'B1, B2 and B8' uses and that require similar types of sites or location to operate effectively. Therefore, in addition to these, other sui generis uses of a similar and / or complimentary character to employment uses that would be acceptable in principle on existing and allocated employment sites are considered in this guidance (paragraph 6.3 refers).

2.6. Recent trends suggest that more office based staff will work some or all of their working week from home which will have inevitable consequences for demand for office accommodation that will be considered further as part of future LDP Review and as more evidence of trends is gathered. Consequently, the SPG will outline the potential planning considerations associated with working from home. Additionally, the rise in working from home could lead to a greater demand for live / work units which are a combination of B1 and C3 uses. Therefore, the SPG aims to set out how proposals for live / work development will be considered in development management decisions in the Vale of Glamorgan.

2.7. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), in 2021 there were 9,455 business enterprises in the Vale of Glamorgan, operating across a range of employment sectors, many of which were classed as being micro businesses employing less than 10 employees. In terms of employment, the most recent ONS data indicated that the majority of Vale of Glamorgan residents are employed in the 'public administration, defence, education and health' sectors (30%%), followed by 23.7% in wholesale, retail, transport, hotels and food related employment, 7.9% in the 'Construction' sector, and 9.5% in manufacturing. Whilst much of the western Vale is characterised as rural, the number of people employed in the agricultural related sector is relatively modest (in 2018 0.01% of people were employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, compared to 2.8% nationally). Therefore, while the Vale's residents are employed in a range of sectors including non B uses and service industries like retail and hospitality, tourism, administration and agriculture, other policy considerations will apply to these types of uses and are not covered by the 'employment policies' in the LDP nor this supplementary planning guidance.