www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Minerals & Waste Development Framework
Index of Content
- Changes to National Policy
- Changes to Regional Policy
- Changes to Local Policy
- The Minerals and Waste Development Framework
- The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme
- Statement of Community Involvement
- Joint Working
- Contact Details
The New Planning System and The Wiltshire & Swindon Minerals & Waste Development Framework
The Government has undertaken a major programme of reform to create a planning system in England that is more flexible and responsive to the interests and demands of today’s society. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act introduces significant changes to the planning system including the way policy is developed at a national, regional and local level.
Changes to National Policy
Government policy in respect of planning matters is currently contained in a combination of existing Planning Policy Guidance notes (PPGs) and Minerals Planning Policy Guidance notes (MPGs). These are gradually being replaced with up to date Planning and Minerals Policy Statements (PPSs and MPSs).
To date the following PPSs and MPSs have been issued:
- PPS1: Delivering Sustainable Development
- PPS6: Planning for Town Centres
- PPS7: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas
- PPS11: Regional Planning
- PPS12: Local Development Frameworks
- PPS22: Renewable Energy
- MPS2: Controlling and Mitigating the Environmental Effects of Minerals Extraction in England
The Department for Communities and Local Government (formerly The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) have prepared a consultation draft of MPS1 (Planning and Minerals and associated Good Practice Guidance) setting out the Government’s core policies and good practice guidance for mineral planning. In due course minerals specific annexes will be issued which will finalise the revision of MPG6 (1994).
The publication of a consultation MPS3 which will provide guidance on restoration of mineral workings is also anticipated.
In December 2004 the then ODPM the published Planning Policy Statement 10 (PPS10) as a draft for consultation with a view to replacing the existing government guidance for waste planning policy contained within Planning Policy Guidance notes (PPGs) 10: Planning and Waste Management and 23: Planning and Pollution Control. Draft PPS10 reflects many of the changes in approach to planning policy preparation introduced by the new Act through its increased emphasis upon working with regional waste guidance, involving communities and undertaking Sustainability Appraisal/ Strategic Environmental Assessment (SA/ SEA) of new waste planning documents.
It also alters or places new emphasis upon some key aspects of waste planning policy and decision making that are currently in common use. For example, the application of tests required under the assessment of whether or not a proposed waste development represents the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) for managing those wastes has now been removed.
The assessment of such environmental impacts that fall within the remit of land use planning and waste planning policy will now be undertaken whilst the policies and proposals of the new Waste Development Documents (WDDs) are prepared. Such assessments will constitute part of the wider sustainability appraisal of those documents.
Changes to Regional Policy
Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) Notes, which set out the planning strategy for a region, including the waste planning strategy, will be replaced with Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs), which in the case of the South West will be the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA).
The RSS has statutory status and will become part of the development plan and rather than setting out guidance like the RPG it will contain more detailed proposals on development and use of land in the region and will replace the strategic function of Structure Plans which are currently prepared by County Councils and Unitary Authorities.
Under the terms of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, RPGs will afforded development plan status until the RSS for the region has been adopted. The relevant RPG for the South West is RPG10, which was adopted in September 2001 and covers the period to 2016. The RSSs will be subject to consultation and public examination prior to adoption. It is anticipated that RPG 10 will be replaced by a RSS in 2008/2009.
Changes to Local Policy
This section will outline the key principles of the new planning system (The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 - commenced 28th September 2004) and also what documents will be produced over the next few years as replacements to existing development plans.
The terms Local Development Framework and Minerals and Waste Development Framework are synonymous but interestingly they do not appear in Statute. That said, they are established terms (for further information please refer to Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Development Frameworks 2004) and are used to describe the ‘portfolio’ style approach to managing authorities’ local development documents at the local District, Unitary or County level of planning. For the purposes of this web-page the term Minerals and Waste Development Framework (MWDF) will be used as it applies to the County level of planning.
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 has ushered in an entirely new approach to the development plan and development control systems. Structure and Local Plans will no longer be produced. Instead we will see the production of Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) and a series of local development documents (LDDs) which together will form the Development Plan for an area.
The Government considers that producing Development Frameworks will streamline and speed up the local planning process as well as promote a more proactive and positive approach to managing development. Planning Policy Statement 12 (PPS12) defines the key aims of the new system as providing for:
- Flexibility - Ensuring that local planning authorities respond to changing local circumstances and thereby enable the production and review of more dynamic development plan documents (DPD);
- Greater and more effective community and stakeholder involvement in the shaping development in their area - Communities and stakeholders will be encouraged to become involved in plan preparation from the outset rather than at specific points in time;
- Front loading - Key decisions in the preparation of DPDs will need to be taken early by local authorities so as to avoid unnecessary confrontation and to seek, wherever possible, consensus on development proposals;
- Sustainability Appraisal - All DPDs and, where applicable, Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD) will be prepared with the objective of contributing towards achieving sustainable development. As a consequence, Sustainability Appraisals (SA), incorporating the requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive will be carried out at every stage of DPD / SPD production.
- Programme management - The process of plan making (DPDs, SPDs, etc) will need to be managed in accordance with a three year project plan - the Local Development Scheme (or in our case the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme).
- Soundness - All LDDs be they development plan documents (DPDs), supplementary planning documents (SPDs) or the authority’s Statement of Community Involvement, must be soundly based in terms of content and the way in which they were put together. They must also be based on the assemblage of a credible evidence base.
The Minerals and Waste Development Framework
Minerals and Waste Development Frameworks (MWDF) apply to the County level of planning. In our area this means that the MWDF will replace the existing, jointly prepared, Wiltshire and Swindon Minerals and Waste Local Plans.
The MWDF will comprise a series of local development documents (LDDs). Some of which will have ‘development plan status’ and therefore authorities will be obliged to produce, others that will not. It will also contain other documents such as the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (MWDS) and, in due course, an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR).
The MWDF together with any existing saved plans (or elements of saved plans) and the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) will provide the basis for future minerals and waste planning in the County and Borough.
District and Borough planning authorities will be required to prepare Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) instead of area wide Local Plans. Reforms of Minerals and Waste Local Plans will mirror the changes for district wide local plans and in areas where a ‘two-tiered system’ exists (County and District authorities like in Wiltshire) Structure Plans will be abolished. However, in spite of the changes to the overall structure of local and strategic planning, the County Councils (along with Unitary Authorities) will retain the responsibility for minerals and waste planning and are required to prepare Minerals and Waste Development Frameworks.
The Minerals and Waste Development Framework will be prepared by Wiltshire County Council (WCC) and Swindon Borough Council (SBC) and will comprise:
- a portfolio of local development plan documents (DPDs);
- a Local Development Scheme (LDS);
- Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD); and
- a Statement of Community Involvement.
The process of preparing DPDs, and SPDs, will be subject to appropriate Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment.
Under the P&CPA Sustainability Appraisal (SA) is a requirement for all RSSs, DPDs and SPDs and is intended to aid the Regional Planning Bodies and Local Planning Authorities in meeting the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development in preparing their plans. Detailed guidance on this issue is provided by the Government in the document ‘Sustainability Appraisal of Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks’ (September 2004).
During the preparation of these documents Regional Planning Bodies and Local Planning Authorities are also required to undertake a strategic environmental assessment of their policies and proposals in accordance with the requirements of the recently implemented ‘SEA’ Directive (the European Directive 2001/42/EC: The Assessment of the Effects of certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment). The ODPM advises that, rather than undertake two assessments which share many similar characteristics, much of the same baseline information and seek to address a range of impacts that can not be easily decoupled from each other, that it is possible to satisfy both of these requirements to undertake SA and SEA through a single appraisal process.
Further information on the sustainability appraisal and strategic environmental assessment of these documents is provided on the associated web page.
Minerals and Waste Development Scheme
The LPAs are required to produce a number of non-development plan documents that will form part of the wider Wiltshire and Swindon MWDF. One of the first of these documents to be produced is the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (MWDS). Wiltshire’s Revised Minerals and Waste Development Scheme was approved in March 2006.
The Wiltshire MWDS is very important document. It represents a public statement of Wiltshire County Council’s programme for the production of all their Local Development Documents, including the LDDs, the SCI, SPDs and the AMR, to be measured over a three year cycle. The Wiltshire MWDS sets out not only which documents will be produced but also what they cover in terms of subject matter and the timescales for their production. They also identify the resources that will be necessary and allocated for producing them.
Statement of Community Involvement
Another key component of the MWDF is the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). All local authorities are obliged under the provisions of the new Act to produce a SCI, which will set out the planning authority’s policy for involving the community in the preparation and revision of their LDDs and the consideration of planning applications for which they are responsible for determining.
Following an initial round of consultation at the end of 2004, Wiltshire County Council submitted its SCI to the Secretary of State for consideration and entered into a final period of public consultation which ran until 8th July 2005. Following the examination phase, the Planning Inspectorate issued a Binding Report in April 2006 containing a limited numbering of recommendations. The SCI was formally adopted in July 2006.
Joint Working
Where existing Plans are produced by two or more Local Authorities (for example, the Wiltshire and Swindon Minerals and Waste Local Plans), the new legislation will continue to provide for joint working between LPAs, in the preparation of LDDs where circumstances make this appropriate. This is the case in Wiltshire and Swindon.
Contact Details
By Post
Local Plans and Development Control
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JD
By Email
mineralsandwastepolicy@wiltshire.gov.uk
By Telephone
01225 713213
By Fax
01225 713437
By Hand
County Hall, Trowbridge
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm
