Ben Truslove, a director of property agency John Truslove, warns Redditch’s economic growth could be held back by a lack of industrial land.

Redditch is suffering a severe shortage of small and medium sized industrial stock, which has started to cause the town to lose business and needs to be addressed immediately.

We need Redditch Borough Council and Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to act to ensure the area does not lose out.

Progress of sorts is being made to the extent that the LEP has awarded the Redditch Eastern Gateway project £1.8 million in new funding.

The money has been secured by the Gorcott Trust and the Homes & Communities Agency to be used by developers Stoford to access and unlock a 70 acre site of employment land. Stoford is applying to Stratford-upon-Avon District Council for outline planning permission for the first phase of development, which could start this year.

Redditch Eastern Gateway is intended to deliver more the one million square feet of new office and industrial space, creating up to 1,500 jobs.

However, while we encourage big development, we are concerned that without political pressure this is likely to deliver only very large distribution warehouses in the 50,000-250,000 sq ft category and will not cater for the SME market, which urgently requires a range of units from 1,500 sq ft to 50,000 sq ft.

Otherwise Redditch will lose business – there are already limited options available in this size bracket. We are currently searching for a number of locally established firms who cannot find suitable premises in Redditch or Bromsgrove and are therefore looking to relocate out of the area, or are putting their expansion plans on hold.

It is a concern that the trickle could become a torrent if the situation is not addressed.

The only current example of new-build is Hepworth Park, a speculative scheme of seven 1,600 sq ft units which have been snapped up before the development is finished, setting rental records, a clear evidence of the level of demand.

John Truslove will keep campaigning for more demand-led development in the area.

And we have to look at this across political boundaries. We need a plan that encompasses Redditch, Bromsgrove and Stratford councils, which they all buy into in order for it to work.

The LEPs in both Worcestershire and Warwickshire have a major role to play in this process and we will continue to lobby all the relevant stakeholder bodies.

Interestingly, it seems the problem is UK-wide.

A recent survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) highlighted surging levels of industrial demand generally – with businesses thriving and employment stats still strong, the industrial sector has the greatest momentum in occupier demand. For industrial space, 43 per cent more surveyors were envisaging a further rise rather than fall in rents in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Yet, as demand pushes ahead, supply has continued to decrease across the UK with the survey recording the 11th consecutive quarterly drop in available space across the commercial property market.

The cycle has to be broken.