The Local Plan should ensure that a variety of employment opportunities are available across the District for all members of the community. This includes protecting and enabling the growth of established and successful businesses in the District such as DB Group. DB Group operate in Bourn and undertake the following operations and processes:
- Sand grading – filtering sand to provide different levels of fineness;
- Production of additives used in concrete mixes – blending of powders from silo storage;
-Warehousing – receipt and dispatch of goods either manufactured or purchased off site for resale.
These uses, in combination, amount to B2 General Industrial use. The company currently employs 21 full time staff on site with a further 40 being primarily field based and visiting the site approximately once a week. The company’s expansion plans have the potential to create a further 16 jobs on site in the relatively near term and potentially more in the future.
DB Group initiated an apprenticeship scheme for its contracting business in 2018, leading its first successful trainee to become a permanent employee now remunerated at levels on par with more experienced peers. Summer 2019 saw its first intern opportunities provided to sixth-form students, which it hopes to continue into the future.
DB Group have recently received pre-application advice (reference 21/50156/PREAPP) from South Cambridgeshire District Council advising that an extension in hours of operations would be unlikely to be supported as a result of a “detrimental impact on the living conditions of existing neighbouring properties and future occupiers in the New Village development”.
This is constraining DB Group’s expansion plans and their ability to expand employment opportunities at their site. This clearly has negative impacts on the range of employment opportunities that are available within Greater Cambridge. The Councils therefore need to ensure that existing local business are supported, so that they can continue to make positive contributions towards wellbeing and social inclusion throughout Greater Cambridge.