Minerals and Waste Development Scheme
Re-submission April 2007
If you have any comments on this Minerals and Waste Development Scheme please contact:
Julie Greaves
Team Leader: Minerals and Waste Policy
County Development Unit
Environment Department
County Hall
Hertford
Herts SG13 8DN
Tel 01992 556227
Fax 01992 556202
e-mail:
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme 3
3. Interim Arrangements 5
4. Minerals and Waste Development Documents 7
5. Preparation of Minerals and Waste Development Documents 9
6. Programme for Minerals and Waste Development Documents 2007 – March 2011 11
6.1 Minerals Local Plan Review (Interim Arrangements) and Proposals Map 11
6.2 Waste Development Documents 12
6.2.1 Core Strategy 13
6.2.2 Site allocation policies and proposals (including Proposals Map) 16
6.2.3 Waste Development Policies 19
6.3 Minerals and Waste Supplementary Planning Documents 21
6.3.1 Minerals Supplementary Planning Document 21
6.3.2 Waste Supplementary Planning Document 22
7. Monitoring 23
8. Resources 24
8.1 Staffing and support 24
8.2 Budget provision 25
8.3 Management Process 26
8.4 Risk Assessment and Contingencies 26
8.4.1 Risk and uncertainty in programming 26
8.4.2 Risk in political and decision-making context 27
9. Saved Policies 28
9.1 Structure Plan Policies 28
9.2 Waste Local Plan Policies 28
9.3 Minerals Local Plan Policies 29
10. Decoding the Jargon and Acronyms 30
11. Useful contacts 35
Appendix 1 - Detailed Schedule of Minerals and Waste Development Documents 37
Appendix 2 – Profile of each Development Plan Document 40
A2.1 Minerals Core Strategy 40
A2.2 Minerals Site Allocations and Site Specific Policies 41
A2.3 Control of Minerals Development in Hertfordshire (Supplementary Planning Document) 41
A2.4 Waste Core Strategy 42
A2.5 Waste Development Policies (May also include Minerals Development Policies) 43
A2.6 Waste Site Allocations and Site Specific Policies 43
A2.7 Minerals & Waste Proposals Map 44
A2.8 Waste Supplementary Planning Document (to be determined) 45
Appendix 3 – Minerals and Waste Development Framework Programme 47
Appendix 4 – Saved Policies from the Adopted Minerals and Waste Local Plans and Structure Plan policies of particular relevance to minerals and waste development 49
Please note that the footnotes in this document are primarily to ensure that the MWDS conforms to the guidance in PPS 12.
Minerals and Waste Development Scheme - April 2007
1. Introduction
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, which came into force on 28 September 2004, introduced a fundamental review of the planning system, including the introduction of a new development plan framework. This meant that the previous development plan documents, which, for Hertfordshire, comprised the Structure Plan Review 1991-2011 Adopted April 1998, the Minerals Local Plan 1991-2006 Adopted July 1998, the Waste Local Plan 1995-2005 Adopted January 1999 and the adopted district local plans needed be replaced by a new suite of development plan documents.
The new system comprises:
§ Planning Policy Statements, published by the government, setting out national policy;
§ The Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England, produced by the Regional Planning Body, which sets out the broad development strategy for the region;
§ Local Development Frameworks (LDFs), prepared by local councils for each of the district/borough areas in the county, which set out the core strategy and planning proposals at the local level;
§ Minerals and Waste Development Frameworks (MWDFs), prepared by the County Council, which set out the core strategy and spatial planning policies for minerals and waste in the county.
Each local development framework, including minerals and waste development frameworks, will consist of a number of interrelated development documents rather than a single Local Plan document. The Development Framework is effectively a folder of documents, comprising:
§ development plan documents (DPDs), that are part of the statutory development plan;
§ the local development scheme (LDS), which is a public statement of the local planning authority's programme for the production of local development documents. For authorities such as Hertfordshire, who are the minerals and waste planning authority, this will be known as the minerals and waste development scheme (MWDS);
§ the statement of community involvement (SCI), which sets out the local planning authority's policy for involving the community in the preparation and revision of local development documents and planning applications;
§ the annual monitoring report; and
§ supplementary planning documents (SPDs) which expand on policies set out in a development plan document or provide additional detail.
The local development framework, together with the regional spatial strategy, provides the essential framework for planning in the local authority's area.
The way these documents fit together for Hertfordshire is shown in Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1: Hertfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework
2. The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme
The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme sets out the documents that the County Council will produce as part of the new planning policy framework for minerals and waste in the county. It also sets out the programme for the preparation and review of these development documents for the coming three years (up to at least December 2010).
The County Council’s original minerals and waste development scheme was submitted to and approved by the Secretary of State within six months of commencement of Part 2 of the Act (i.e. by 28 March 2005). This scheme covered the period from enactment in 2004 up to 2008.
Monitoring and reviewing of plans and policies is an integral part of the new Act which requires every local authority to produce an annual monitoring report. The Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) needs to contain information on the implementation of the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme and the extent to which the policies set out in the development documents are being achieved. All AMRs have to be submitted to the Secretary of State.
The AMR is the mechanism for identifying any need to review the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme. This Minerals and Waste Development Scheme has been revised to take account of new requirements under the European Habitats Directive.
The replacement minerals and waste development scheme is publicly available from the County Council or via the council’s website
http://www.hertsdirect.org/mineralsandwaste
Once approved, the revised minerals and waste development scheme is the document which the public can use to find out what the County Council is proposing to do and when, and at what stage they can expect to be involved in the planning process.
The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme has three main purposes:
i to inform the public of the documents that will make up the new planning policy framework (development plan documents) and the timescales they can expect for the preparation of these documents;
ii to establish and reflect the County Council’s priorities for document preparation and to enable realistic work programmes to be set for the preparation of the documents. This will assist the community in knowing when they can get involved in the preparation of the development plan documents;
iii to set a timetable for the review of the documents once they have been prepared.
Consequently, the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme will form the starting point for the local community to find out what the County Council is proposing to do with regard to developing and reviewing minerals and waste policies for the county and how they can expect to be involved in the planning process.
The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme will:
§ identify all of the documents that will be produced as minerals and waste development documents;
§ of those documents, identify which will be development plan documents;
§ indicate the subject matter and geographical area to which each local development document relates;
§ set out the timetable for the preparation and revision of the minerals and waste development documents.
Further detail on how the County Council proposes to involve the community and stakeholders in the preparation of minerals and waste policies is set out in our Statement of Community Involvement.
3. Interim Arrangements
The development plan system ensures that proposed development is in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. However, changes brought about by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act cannot happen overnight and so there were various transitional arrangements to ensure that development takes place in accordance with development plan policy until such time as the new policy documents have been approved.
Proposed changes to the draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the East of England – RSS 14 were consulted on between 19 December 2006 and 9 March 2007. In order to ensure that there are still strategic policies for the county, existing Structure Plan policies have previously been “saved” for a three year period to September 2007 or until such time as the RSS is adopted (whichever is the sooner).
New local development plan documents, including minerals and waste development documents, must be in general conformity with the RSS. As an interim measure, the existing Regional Planning Guidance for East of England (RPG 9 and RPG 14) has become the RSS for the region until it is formally replaced by the new RSS 14.
Similarly, all adopted local plan policies (both those in district local plans and in the Minerals and Waste Local Plans) will be “saved” for three years (until September 2007) or until the new Development Plan documents are produced. Provisions exist for a further extension of time where new documents have not yet been adopted and these have been taken up in respect of waste development policies.
The Minerals Local Plan Review is scheduled for adoption in March 2007 and the new policies will be saved until March 2010, subject to the Secretary of State not “calling in” the Plan or any application for a Judicial Review.
It was originally proposed that consultation on proposed amendments to the draft Supplementary Planning Guidance for Mineral Extraction in Hertfordshire (First Deposit Draft, September 2002) be undertaken at the same time as the Minerals Local Plan Review Proposed Modifications. The draft Supplementary Planning Guidance and maintained representations from its deposit in late 2002 were considered at the Local Plan Inquiry in 2004 alongside the Minerals Local Plan Review. Recommendations for amendments were contained within the Inspector’s Report following that Inquiry.
However, under the new system Supplementary Planning Guidance no longer exists and any supplementary planning documents have to be prepared as Supplementary Planning Documents. As it is now a requirement to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment/Sustainability Appraisal and subject Supplement Planning Documents to the same statutory stages of consultation as development plan documents the Supplementary Planning Guidance for Mineral Extraction in Hertfordshire has been put on hold pending the development of the Minerals Development Framework The Council will review whether it is appropriate to adopt non-statutory guidance for mineral extraction, based on the draft Supplementary Planning Guidance in the interim.
Work on the review of the Adopted Waste Local Plan will be wholly in accordance with the new planning framework. It should be noted that the saved policies in the Adopted Waste Local Plan are part of the development plan for three years or until replaced by the new Waste Development Plan Documents when adopted (i.e. Waste Core Strategy, Waste Development Policies, Waste Site Allocations and Site Specific Policies and Minerals and Waste Proposals Map).
Relevant Waste Local Plan policies will be saved for a period beyond three years until such time as the new Development Plan Documents within the Waste Development Framework are adopted.
Up until March 2006 there had been no slippage in the published timetable. As a consequence of the Habitats Directive being transposed into UK law, the emerging Preferred Options for the Waste Core Strategy have been the subject of an Appropriate Assessment (AA) Screening process. Having received the AA screening report the conclusions will now be incorporated within the Preferred Options documents.
4. Minerals and Waste Development Documents
Under the new system, some minerals and waste development documents will be development plan documents. These are the documents which set out the policies against which planning applications will be considered, as required by Section 38 (6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, which says that “If regard is to be had to the development plan for the purpose of any determination to be made under the planning Acts the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.”
There will be informal engagement and two formal consultation periods. The informal stage of consultation involves the raising and discussion of issues and options/alternatives (based on the findings of the local evidence base), initial Strategic Environmental Assessment/Sustainability Appraisal work and consensus building (as per regulation 25[3]). The first formal 6-week consultation period follows on from this and will deal with the preferred options strategy (regulation 26). The second formal consultation opportunity is at submission stage and it is only representations that are received at this later stage and that relate to the soundness of the document that will be considered at examination by the Inspector.
In addition to carrying out the Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal, an Appropriate Assessment screening has been undertaken to further inform the process and ensure the highest level of protection is afforded to habitats of European importance.
Development plan documents will be the subject of independent examination to test their soundness, taking into account any representations made during their preparation. This independent examination may include a public hearing if one or more of those making written representations wish to be heard.
Minerals and waste development documents that are not development plan documents will be material considerations when considering planning applications. These are referred to as Supplementary Planning Documents and, whilst they will be consulted on by the County Council, they will not be subject to independent examination.
All Councils are required to prepare a Community Plan (sometimes referred to as a Community Strategy). Within the Hertfordshire area there are ten relevant District Community Plans plus the Hertfordshire Community Strategy (“Herts Together”). Community Plans and Strategies aim to promote or improve the economic, social and environmental aspects of each area for the next 5-10 years. Each Community Plan generally provides a profile of the area, a vision, aims and objectives for achieving this vision, performance indicators and action plans.