The promises from the Skypark 'business park' >>> >>> >>> "A multinational comes along and plonks itself just out of town. Hooray, they tell us... Jobs for all!"

This part of the UK is haemorrhaging jobs in manufacturing:
Futures Forum: "A staggering 50,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the South West in a decade." Which is not surprising, as "the LEP area ranks 32nd out of 39 LEP areas in England for the level of productivity."

Meanwhile, what is being promised by developers and politicians is 'job creation':
Futures Forum: The empty promises of 'Job creation' - and the real possibilities from 'entrepreneur-led revitalisation' and the 'return of a spirit of self-reliance'

But one wonders how much of it will be 'real jobs':
Futures Forum: SMEs, self employment and the sharing economy

Or whether it will be about some sort of 'investment':
Futures Forum: Foreign Direct Investment ... vs ... supporting locally-owned small businesses

As suggested by a business in Penzance:

Olivers Photographics - Love Penzance
Localism in action – and destroyed | East Devon Watch

Everyone is getting excited about the new Ikea on its way just outside Exeter:
Everything you need to know about IKEA Exeter (with a little help from ABBA) - Devon Live
IKEA Exeter: How the new store within an hour of Plymouth is taking shape - Plymouth Herald
IKEA Exeter: video shows the new store is taking shape - Somerset Live

Meanwhile, at another spot 'just outside Exeter', a bit more 'employment land' is happening:
Futures Forum: An 'inter-modal freight depot', a giant Lidl's warehouse ... and when a 'site employing up to 450 people' is not 'counted as an employment site'
Futures Forum: An 'inter-modal freight depot' by any other name >>> >>> also known as: a giant Lidl's warehouse on the M5

It's part of the joint Exeter/East Devon project:
exeter gateway distribution facility - Exeter and East Devon Growth Point
6 January 2016 - Lidl brings jobs boost for Exeter and East Devon Growth Point - East Devon

With that promise of 'jobs':

Lidl's huge new depot near Exeter is taking shape - PHOTOS

The site is due to create around 500 jobs when it opens in Autumn

UPDATED 17 AUG 2017

A giant new supermarket depot near Exeter is starting to take shape near Exeter. The Lidl distribution centre under construction near Exeter Airport and Skypark is part of the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point. It is expected to create around 500 jobs when fully operational.

Lidl's huge new depot near Exeter is taking shape - PHOTOS - Devon Live

Meanwhile, even more 'jobs' are about to happen next door, as reported in March:
More MASSIVE speculative industrial development at Clyst Honiton with benefits to LEP | East Devon Watch

Two planning applications are to be considered by the District Council:
17/0532/MOUT | Outline planning application with all matters reserved for the provision of up to 110,000 sq. m of Use Class B8 development with ancillary Use Class B1 and associated parking, servicing, yard areas, landscaping and engineering works including demolition of existing structures within the site. | Land At Hayes Farm (Phase 2) Clyst Honiton
16/3021/MFUL | Mixed-used development comprising 64 bed care home, offices, retail, 250 space Park and Change, plus associated roads, servicing, car parking and landscaping. | Land Off Hawkins Road Hillside Gardens Pinhoe Exeter

As reported in today's Devon Online:

Massive industrial park on edge of Exeter set to be approved

The industrial park next to the Lidl depot at Clyst Honiton will create nearly 2,000 jobs and add £100m to the economy

BY DANIEL CLARK 31 AUG 2017

Outline plans for a 110,000sqm industrial park next to the Lidl depot at Clyst Honiton are being recommended for approval by East Devon District Council.

Councillors are also being asked approve plans for a mixed-used development comprising 64 bed care home, offices, retail, 250 space Park and Change, plus associated roads, servicing, car parking and landscaping at land off Hawkins Road in Pinhoe that will create 165 jobs.

The massive development on land at Hayes Farm would create between 1,530 and 1,817 new jobs and contribute an extra £90 to £105m to the regional economy, the applicants, the Church Commissioners For England claim.

The huge chunk of land is earmarked for more storage and distribution warehouses, offices and business space as part of the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point.

The application goes before Members of the council due to the significance of the proposals and an objection from Clyst Honiton Parish Council.

The summary of the application says: “The application site falls within the East of Exeter Growth Point and is one of the key strategic employment sites identified for the area, along with the Skypark Business Park and Exeter Science Park. Through the former County Structure Plan and previous Local Plans the site was allocated for an intermodal freight distribution centre comprising a railhead and associated B8 uses to facilitate the Agenda page 115 17/0532/MOUT transfer of freight from the rail to road.

 Masterplan for the industrial park

“After outline and reserved matters permissions for the first phase of development (up to 65,000 sq. m of B8) two applications have been submitted by the Church Commissioners for the second phase of development - an outline for up to 110,000 sq. m of B8 storage or distribution and a Section 106A application to remove the phase 1 Section 106 railhead obligations.

“While separate applications, the status of the railhead land is crucial to the acceptability of the outline and therefore the two applications are considered together in a single report.”

Clyst Honiton Parish Council and Broadclyst Parish Councils have both objected to the scheme which would also need associated parking, servicing, yard areas, landscaping and engineering works including demolition of existing building within the site.

At the moment the future occupiers are unknown. Options for the land include space for 540 car parking spaces on a two unit scheme, and 530 for a multi-unit scheme.

For both scenarios the storage/distribution use with ancillary office floorspace and car parking is supported by development of an estate access road, SUDs features, sprinkler tanks and a pump house, on site surface water attenuation measures and strategic landscaping to the site boundaries.

Planners are being asked to approve the application as although the use of the site for large scale development has long been accepted and while locally contentious, sufficient evidence has been submitted to support the removal of the railhead obligations.

READ MORE
Watch as DCH's new Skypark headquarters takes shape

The report continues: “The scale of use proposed on the site is considered to be acceptable, although the potential for a single large building will require a higher level of design and landscape mitigation. Being in outline the application does not contain much in the way of prescriptive detail and the applicants aim is to retain as much flexibility as possible, but the proposal is supported by a robust ES. The development has not attracted any significant objection, and as such the application is recommended for approval subject to a Section 106 agreement.”

Planners are also being asked to back plans for a mixed-used development comprising 64 bed care home, offices, retail, 250 space Park and Change, plus associated roads, servicing, car parking and landscaping.

The application is before Members as it is a departure from the Local Plan and there is an objection from the Parish Council.

The application proposes a reconfigured layout for the Park and Change, a reduction to the office and retail provision, and substitution of the light industrial units for a carehome, and the revised scheme will generate 165 jobs compared to the estimated 171.5 that would have been generated by the previously approved uses that were granted in 2012 for the site.

The scheme is for a 250 space Park and Change proposed in two phases (revised layout from previous approval) 440 square metre retail unit located to the front (north) of the Park and Change site 914 square metre B1(a) office units sited next to the retail unit 64 bed care home along the western edge of the site.

READ MORE
The Tech List: 30 Exeter and South West firms at the cutting edge of technology and innovation

The report concludes: “The proposed scheme is contrary to policy and despite the submission of additional information it is not considered that the resulting loss of the B2 use has been properly evidenced.

“However, there are a number of benefits from the scheme that give considerable weight to a positive recommendation - the delivery of some employment and much needed facilities on the site, evidenced demand for additional carehome provision in the locality, the submission of positive amendments to address design/layout concerns, and the development will secure DH connection to both the commercial uses and approved primary school.

“While the lack of evidence for the loss of the B2 use is unfortunate, the scheme has been carefully considered and it is felt that on balance these identified benefits override the policy conflict in this specific case, however this is subject to the result on the current amended plan consultation the results of which will be reported to the meeting.”

Both applications go before East Devon District Council planners on Tuesday, September 5.

Built over 20 years, the 110-acre Skypark site will provide 1.4 million sq ft of warehouse, industrial and office space and deliver up to 6,500 new jobs. When it completes this autumn, this new office building will create 17,142 sq ft of employment space.

The new offices will join the Ambulance Special Operations Centre (ASOC West) and DPD UK’s new 60,000 sq ft distribution centre on site. They will benefit from the £3.5 million worth of investment in road and services infrastructure at Skypark and the five-acre public realm area, complete with trim trail exercise stations.

Massive industrial park on edge of Exeter set to be approved - Devon Live

See also:

Skypark, Exeter Business Park

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