Restructuring industrial estates

We have audited government policy to combat the problem of outdated industrial estates. The government's policy is to restructureindustrial estates that no longer meet modern standards rather than to develop new ones when older, partially abandoned estates are being allowed to deteriorate further. Is the 'restructuring policy' successful? And if not, why not?

Conclusions

Little progress has been made with the restructuring of outdated industrial estates. Many more estates have become outdated in recent years. A variety of problems are preventing policy success. First of all, the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) and the Minister of Economic Affairs (EZ) do not have adequate insight into the 'restructuring task' they are facing: which locations are outdated, in what way are they outdated, how many hectares are outdated, what measures are needed, how much money is involved? Such questions still have to be answered. The Ministry of VROM's Integrated Business Information System (IBIS) contains only general information.

Secondly, it is difficult for municipalities and entrepreneurs to raise the money needed to improve industrial estates. Between 2000 and 2008, central government reserved about EUR 400 million to restructure industrial estates. About three-quarters of this sum has already been spent, chiefly on large projects. There is little funding available to improve smaller industrial estates. The government provides the municipalities with inadequate help to tap other, private, funding sources.

Thirdly, municipalities that have to carry out restructuring projects need government support in the form of information, training, manuals, organizational capacity and the like. Such support, however, is not available.

A fourth problem is that government policy lacks a clear and unambiguous line on the sustainable use of space when industrial estates are developed or restructured. The principle that new industrial estates may not be built untiloptimal use has been made of all the space available at existing estates and untilthe lack of space has become pressing has not been worked out in a clear government policy. This guideline, known as the 'SER ladder', is not widely known among local authorities and in practice it is only partially implemented.

Finally, there is little regional coordination. As a result, it is difficult to match supply of and demand for industrial estates in a more sustainable fashion. Municipalities primarily want to accommodate economic growth with a view to local employment and land sales. Provinces often recognise the need for regional cooperation but cooperation is not obligatory. In practice, therefore, there has been a steady increase in the number of new industrial estates and thus in the 'cluttering' of the Dutch landscape, which is precisely what the government had intended to avoid.

Recommendations

The Ministers of VROM and EZ should develop a system in the near future that generates more practical information on outdated industrial estates than the IBIS system. Existing grant schemes for restructuring, which are targeted chiefly at large restructuring projects, should be evaluated as to their effectiveness. The Ministers should help the municipalities tap private funding sources. They should also work out the practical support facilities that they had announced but never realised for municipalities with complex restructuring processes.

The Minister of VROM should present a straightforward interpretation of the SER ladder and ensure that the municipalities are familiar with it. It must be made clear to the municipalities how the compulsory use of the SER ladder will be tested. The Minister of VROM should also encourage provinces and municipalities to find solutions to the inadequate regional coordination of spatial planning for local business.

Response of the Ministers

The Ministers of VROM and EZ thought our recommendations agreed in broad lines with the latest policy insights. The two Ministers gave a number of undertakings. The IBIS data will be supplemented and made more precise. The government has already taken steps to ensure the consistent use of the SER ladder in the planning of industrial estates.