Uit voorraad leverbaar: De overgewaardeerde rol van bouwrijpe grond als vestigingsfactor bij de planning van bedrijventerreinen

This study tests the assumption that an allocation policy for business estates that is subject to facilitating objectives is a cause of government failure. The policy focus on regional economic growth and employment growth has allegedly led to a emphasis on the construction of new business estates. And insufficient attention is given on the restructuring of outdated industrial sites The research analyses the planning practice on three administrative levels (national government, provinces and municipalities) based on policy documents and interviews with key figures. The study focuses on answering the question to what extent the oversupply was caused by a formulation of the problem that was not properly substantiated and an implementation of policy that gives priority to the construction of new business estates above restructuring existing industrial estates. The scientific basis for the policy originates in the economic geographic concept of a productive environment. The term productive environment is related to terms like business establishment climate and business environment. It includes external factors that influence the economic functioning of companies. Empirical research into corporate migration shows that the facilitating effects of the policy are limited. This raises the question as to whether there is sufficient scientific basis for the policy and whether or not policy based on restructuring will benefit from an alternative basis. Due to the fact that companies will only move over a short distance, they remain within what economic geographers refer to as the spatial profitability margin. Within this area, the differences in profit which entrepreneurs can make based on the external conditions in the productive environment are relatively small. With the exception of benefiting from more efficient housing, they can hardly achieve any ‘gains’ from their relocation Based on the observation that short-distance relocations are primarily based on accommodation motives, the study derives the alternative basis for the policy on the dynamics in the property market. It views plots that are prepared for building on industrial sites as a specific segment in the market for business accommodations. The main added value of an approach to industrial sites that is based on the property market is that it gives closer insight in the demand for industrial sites, and offers a better basis for the restructuring issue. The study into the planning practice on national, provincial and municipal level confirms the assumption that the facilitating policy leads to government failure. In spite of the fact that the policy emphasises the need for restructuring on all administrative levels, the planning remains focused on an expansion of the area occupied by the industrial site. The analyses reveal a number of shortcomings with regard to substantiating the policy, which are directly related to the policy’s facilitating objectives. Firstly, the estimates which form the basis for the policy, overestimate the demand for new industrial sites. Secondly, municipalities base the usefulness and need for the construction of new business sites on long-term estimates, and not on the current market demand. Thirdly, the restructuring issue is insufficiently substantiated.