We welcome the publication of a major new report on the shortage of employment land by the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce.
While the report focuses on warehouse space we are particularly concerned about the lack of commercial office space in the city centre due to oversupply of student accommodation.
The report also highlights the significant loss of employment land and premises to higher value uses such as housing. We also see this as a problem in the city centre especially under current redevelopment plans.
What’s more, the council has previously been accused of driving commercial businesses out of the city centre by a local estate agents.
In addition, the council has continually failed to implement a community infrastructure levy costing the city millions and failing to manage the oversupply of student accommodation.
The report also highlights the need to support more small and medium sized businesses alongside other independent reports such as Centre for Cities.
The council can address these concerns by making recommendations for city centre south plans to include more flexible office space. This can help drive wider economic growth by rebalancing the city centre economy.
Large commercial businesses will only come to Coventry if there is a balanced local economy including a mix of small and medium sized businesses to compliment retail in the city centre.
However, local councillors have previously ignored these warnings and continued to turn the city centre upside-down with their personal legacy projects.
We hope the council will do more to address these important local issues following the report.