Government legislation and planning permission
Government will influence and on some occasions determine where a business is to be located. This may be for reasons of public health or general concerns for health and safety.
For example, nuclear power stations are located in remote areas away from areas of dense population. Factories that have industrial waste will often be located in industrial estates or out of town sites away from residential areas.
Planning permission has to be agreed and granted before a business can build on or extend a site. If the development of a site has an impact on a greenfield siteAn area of land that has not been built on before. it might not get the go ahead.