The Somer Valley Enterprise Zone (SVEZ) is a planned new area for sustainable commercial development, where we are aiming to create a location for new business and employment. This page provides further information about the commercial and policy background to this project, its main aims, and how we plan to achieve these.
The SVEZ is an important part of the delivery of the new B&NES Economic Strategy, as well as being a manifesto commitment of the current administration.
The site was allocated in 2007 as an employment site through the Local Plan, however the private sector were unable to deliver this. We have now stepped in and created a mechanism by which we can deliver a green business park via Local Development Order (LDO).
The SVEZ will create around 1,300 jobs that will provide good quality, secure, well-paid, local jobs giving residents meaningful and fulfilling employment.
The administration are committed to promote active travel, public transport, and reduced car travel. With so many employees living locally and the provision of suitable infrastructure, we are expecting a shift in transport methods.
Select a topic below, to read in more detail about the background and purpose of the project.
A lack of available commercial space in the Somer Valley has constrained business and employment growth for some time, with many residents having to commute to surrounding towns and cities for work. Our new Economic Strategy recognises this issue, and the 'urgent need' to encourage new employment land use in this area.
The Somer Valley Enterprise Zone (SVEZ) was established in April 2017 to support existing local businesses and to attract new business to the area.
The SVEZ site is located at Old Mills, a greenfield area extending to 13.5 hectares on the north-western edge of Midsomer Norton.
Our vision is that SVEZ will become the ‘go-to’ place for new and existing businesses in the Somer Valley area. It will provide a vibrant mix of viable and sustainably deliverable land uses, creating around 1300 new jobs, all in an attractive, sustainable, and high-quality-design setting. The new development will add to the existing commercial and employment opportunities in the area, and will complement existing centres. The reduced need for local people to commute out of the area to find work will also help to address the Climate and Ecological Emergencies.
Key aims of the project are as follows:
Create good quality jobs for residents which will reduce the need for commuting.
Provide a sustainable location for green business to maximise their contribution to tackling the climate and nature emergency:
Making active travel routes more convenient and better connected:
Ensure public transport is available from the first occupation:
Mitigating the risk of worsening air quality:
Protecting Midsomer Norton High Street:
Minimising the flow of HGV traffic on our highways:
No drive through food outlets that will contribute litter to our roads:
Our One Shared Vision framework, published in June 2021, sets out our vision for fairer, greener, more creative and connected communities. It embodies the inclusion and environmental commitments from our Corporate Strategy, focusing on economic and social renewal, as we recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It proposes a new vision for a stronger, low carbon, more inclusive and diverse local economy.
The site has been allocated for employment uses in the B&NES Core Strategy and Placemaking Plan. The SVEZ aims to deliver in the region of 1300 new jobs for local people, and around 40 000 square metres of commercial floorspace.
SVEZ was granted ‘Enterprise Zone’ (EZ) status by the Government in April 2017, as part of the wider Bath and Somer Valley Enterprise Zone. However this status has expired.
A Local Development Order (LDO) for the site was adopted by Cabinet on 1 February 2024.
LDOs are used by Local Planning Authorities to help set the planning framework for an area and to bring forward development. They provide permitted development rights for specified types of development in defined locations, and are essentially a type of planning policy ‘zoning’, which grants planning permission for specific development proposals or classes of development within a defined area.
LDOs are flexible tools which cover a range of uses, scales of projects, and size of buildings. The SVEZ LDO includes a design code, which sets out what buildings and spaces should look like, and how they should function, in the final development.
LDOs streamline the planning process by removing the need for developers to make a planning application to a Local Planning Authority (LPA). Creating an LDO for the SVEZ project will help provide greater flexibility for potential developers, and greater certainty for local people. This allows development to come forward more quickly and with greater ease.
Once the application for the LDO is submitted, the Local Planning Authority will run a formal public consultation process. This allows for local input, guiding development in the right direction, in terms of demand and local aspirations.
Read more about LDOs, where and why they already exist in England
LDOs are flexible tools, which can accommodate changes in market conditions and accelerate the delivery of necessary development.
Creating an LDO for a large-scale development provides more certainty about the progress of the project. Investment becomes more attractive because the LDO simplifies the planning process, making it easier to deliver the project on time and in budget.