A LEADING commercial property company has warned of a serious shortage of sites for creating jobs in South East Dorset.

Cowling & West says the limited “deliverable” land for industrial and warehouse development has become a major issue that could stifle economic growth.

The company says the need for extra housing locally is well documented, with the current Poole Local Plan review identifying the need for 14,200 homes by 2033. But it says the lack of accompanying commercial and industrial land is less well publicised.

Simon West, a founding partner of Cowling & West, said: “Although there would appear to be a reasonable number of sites which have been allocated as employment land, the reality is that many of them are not actually available.

“For example, we can’t show a prospective client a parcel of land without any infrastructure in place. As a minimum, they want to see the main services – electricity, water and communications – together with a good road network. And those type of sites are very limited.

“Around 80 per cent of our enquiries are from local companies who want to expand. They are medium/large business which are typically looking for a 20,000sqft building or larger. If you look across the whole conurbation and try to identify sites to meet this need, there are probably only five or six realistic possibilities.

“We have also identified 12 other businesses that are potentially looking for even larger premises –around 40,000sqft – and these are equally difficult to find. The costs of failing to address this shortage will be far reaching in the long term.

“Not providing enough land, in the right location and at the right time, will inevitably force companies to make compromises to meet their needs. We recently acted for a Poole-based company which has now moved into Hampshire in order to find a suitable site. They didn’t want to move out of the town but they simply couldn’t find anything to accommodate their requirements. “

He said if companies had a good supply of land for new buildings, it would free up their existing premises for smaller businesses keen to expand and move up the commercial property ladder.

He said companies moving into the area wanted a good selection of sites. He added: “If we can only give them limited options, it sends out the wrong message about our commitment to growth and innovation,” he added.

“The region is showing good growth but it is critical that we maintain a steady supply of employment land so that companies can expand and, in turn, deliver more employment and productivity to the whole conurbation.”