www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Adopted Waste Local Plan - frequently asked questions
(You may also find the general Planning FAQs and the Minerals Local Plan FAQs useful)
If you have any additional queries or would like to find out more about waste planning in Wiltshire and Swindon, please contact us at wastelocalplan@wiltshire.gov.uk or telephone Gareth Bennett, Team Leader Waste Planning Policy on 01225 713426.
Index of Content
1. What do we mean by the term ‘waste'?
2. What is ‘municipal' waste?
3. Is waste really a problem?
4. What is the Waste Local Plan?
5. Why do we need a Waste Local Plan?
6. Who grants granting planning permission for waste management facilities?
7. How does the Waste Local Plan work?
8. Where are the Preferred Area allocations for new waste management facilities?
9. How have specific sites been allocated?
10. Will all the sites in the Waste Local Plan be developed?
11. What about producing energy from waste?
12. Why do we need to consider these processes?
13. Which areas are suitable for developing energy from waste schemes?
14. Can the safety of Energy from Waste plants and other waste sites be guaranteed?
15. A lot of bodies have a responsibility for waste, who does what?
16. What is the Waste Collection Authority (WCA)?
17. What is the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA)?
18. What is the Waste Regulation Authority (WRA)?
19. What is a ‘Waste Management Licence'?
Contact Details
1. What do we mean by the term ‘waste'?
‘Waste' is the wide-ranging term encompassing most unwanted materials, and is defined by the Environment Protection Act 1990. Waste includes any scrap metal, effluent or unwanted surplus substance or article that requires to be disposed of because it is broken, worn out, contaminated, or otherwise spoiled. Explosives and radioactive wastes are excluded. Waste is produced by all sectors of our community - householders, businesses, industry, hospitals and schools.
2. What is ‘municipal' waste?
Municipal waste includes all wastes collected by the Waste Collection Authorities (WCAs), or their agents, such as all household waste, street litter, municipal parks and gardens waste, council office waste and some commercial and industrial waste.
3. Is waste really a problem?
Yes. Waste is a problem for all of us. Every year in Wiltshire and Swindon we dispose of a staggering one million tonnes of all wastes to landfill sites. And the problem is not going away. Annual municipal and household waste arisings are currently growing by 4% each year in Wiltshire and 3% each year in Swindon Borough.
We need to find solutions for ways we can use those resources and to encourage everyone to reduce, re-use and recycle waste instead of relying on traditional landfill sites. And we need to make sure Wiltshire and Swindon has enough waste management facilities to make sure we minimise travel and encourage everyone to use the sites.
4. What is the Waste Local Plan?
The Adopted Waste Local Plan (WLP) is a statutory land-use plan and one of a suite of documents that make up the Development Plan for Wiltshire and Swindon, along with the following documents:
- the Wiltshire Structure Plan;
- the Wiltshire and Swindon Minerals Local Plan; and
- the Borough and District Local Plans.
The purpose of the WLP is to set out detailed land-use policies in relation to waste management development in the County and Borough. The objective of the policies is to guide appropriate waste management development to appropriate sites and locations for accommodating those developments, and to then control the impacts of those development through a range of standards and criteria.
It is against this backdrop that the Waste Planning Authorities Development Control teams will assess planning applications for waste management development and recommend suitable decisions to be taken by elected Members of the two Councils.
The WLP is primarily concerned with the use and development of land. It doesn't seek to influence pollution control measures, which are the responsibility of the Environment Agency and the District/ Borough Council Environmental Health Departments, unless there are specific land use planning issues associated with a particular pollution control issue.
The WLP is also not able to influence or deliver waste management initiatives, such as kerbside recycling schemes or waste minimisation programmes, unless such schemes and initiatives involve any land use planning issues, for example the development of storage units for materials recovered through recycling or re-use schemes.
5. Why do we need a Waste Local Plan?
All households, businesses, and industries produce waste - the majority of which is disposed at landfill. However, our continued heavy reliance upon landfill isn't a sustainable option for the future - ever-growing quantities of potentially reusable materials are currently being landfilled. Change is needed - as a society we cannot afford to continue wasting these resources. Many are only available in limited quantities in the environment, or are difficult or environmentally damaging to produce in the first place.
The waste we produce needs to be managed responsibly, with increasing amounts re-used, recovered and put to good use whilst minimising risks to human health and the environment. A plan that sets out how the facilities required to achieve this is, therefore, vital.
The WLP seeks to achieve this in two main ways. Firstly, by identifying the range of locations that will be suitable for the development of future waste management facilities, through the allocation of Preferred Areas for waste management development and the use of criteria based locational policies. It then sets out a land use planning and environmental protection policy framework against which all waste-planning applications will be decided, thus providing a consistent means by which planning permission will be granted or refused.
6. Who grants granting planning permission for waste management facilities?
The County Council and Borough Council as Waste Planning Authorities have a responsibility to process and determine all planning applications for minerals and waste developments.
The appropriate District or Borough Council is responsible for granting planning permission and advice for house alterations, building extensions, conservatories, garages, housing, employment, leisure and all other non-waste, minerals or county council developments.
7. How does the Waste Local Plan work?
The WLP provides for a wide network of waste management facilities, through Preferred Area allocations and criteria based policies. It includes policies to assist in determining planning applications and sets standards to ensure that waste developments take account of their environmental impacts. It also makes sure that new developments address waste management issues such as recycling and recovery, both during construction and occupation.
The WLP works towards the Wiltshire and Swindon Waste Hierarchy, encouraging a move away from our traditional reliance of burying our waste in landfill sites, promoting instead waste reduction and re-use, and the appropriate location of waste recycling/composting facilities. It also proposes the recovery of energy from waste that cannot be re-used or recycled. Whilst mirroring national waste policy, the hierarchy goes one stage further by encouraging waste elimination at the top of the hierarchy.
Although recognised as continuing to play a role in sustainable waste management, the need to reduce our reliance upon landfilling places this disposal option towards the bottom of the hierarchy.
8. Where are the Preferred Area allocations for new waste management facilities?
The site location process has led to the identification of 27 Preferred Areas spread across the whole Plan Area. This includes 9 Preferred Areas for Strategic Waste Management Facilities (large facilities capable of handling waste from a large area) e.g. strategic materials recovery facilities, central composting facilities, and energy from waste facilities.
There are also 18 Preferred Areas for Local Waste Management Facilities (capable of handling waste at a District, sub-district or neighbourhood level - complementary to strategic sites) e.g. household recycling centres, aggregate recycling, metal recycling and local composting sites.
There are no Preferred Areas identified for additional landfill or landraise in the WLP.
Further details about all the specific sites can be found in Chapter 5 of the Waste Local Plan, with proposal maps and inset plans contained in Annex 1.
9. How have specific sites been allocated?
Finding land capable of accommodating waste management facilities is extremely difficult and often a very controversial subject locally. The selection of sites for waste management facilities is guided by a number of criteria. Two detailed site appraisal reports set out the methodology and outcome of the process that led to the selection of preferred areas. These are the Waste Local Plan Technical Supporting Document ‘The Comparative Appraisal of Sites' (2001, Entec UK Ltd.) and the subsequent ‘Comparative Appraisal of Sites 2002' (Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council).
Over 100 candidate sites were assessed in the 2001 Report and over 150, including those previously selected, in the 2002 Report. While some were immediately ruled out due to factors such as availability, most were subjected to detailed appraisal. The methodology for site selection was the same for both appraisals, incorporating some of the key objectives of the plan, such as the need to protect the environment, the need to avoid endangering human health, and the need to locate facilities near to the point of waste arising. The methodology also incorporated the key locational principles of PPG10, such as the preference for locating facilities on previously developed land.
The site identification process has led to the final identification of 27 Preferred Areas in the Adopted WLP spread across the whole Plan Area.
10. Will all the sites in the Waste Local Plan be developed?
This depends upon their take up by the waste management industry. The WLP only identifies sites which are potentially capable of being developed in the future during the WLP period to 2011. The WLP allocates sites that are considered to be the most suitable for the facilities needed in the Plan Area. This does not mean that the sites have planning permission: a planning application would have to be submitted in the normal way to either Wiltshire County Council or Swindon Borough Council for planning permission to be granted - and thus for facilities to be developed.
11. What about producing energy from waste?
This is an important part of our policies for the future. We can regain energy from waste by a variety of means, including heating without oxygen or with a limited supply (pyrolysis and gasification), use of bacteria (anaerobic digestion) and incineration with energy recovery.
12. Why do we need to consider these processes?
Not all wastes can be economically or efficiently re-used or recycled. If we do not encourage the development of the fullest range of waste management technologies available, including energy from waste technologies, we will need more landfill sites to bury our waste. At the same time, however, the government has set targets for dramatically reducing landfill, especially municipal and household wastes, with the risk if severe financial penalties for local authorities who do not divert their required amounts of these wastes away from landfill.
13. Which areas are suitable for developing energy from waste schemes?
The WLP identified 2 Preferred Areas for the development of small scale waste to energy facilities:
- Ratfyn near Amesbury;
- West Wilts Trading Estate at Westbury.
14. Can the safety of Energy from Waste plants and other waste sites be guaranteed?
The Environment Agency is the body responsible for issuing the Waste Management Licenses. It is the EA who set targets for emissions guided by stringent European and national legislation. A site would not be allowed to be built or operated if the EA thought that health, safety and environmental issues would be a problem.
15. A lot of bodies have a responsibility for waste, who does what?
Waste management is a complex issue, involving many different sectors at various levels. In seeking to achieve sustainable waste management within the Plan Area, all those involved will need to work in co-operation with one another and with the community, establishing a partnership approach. Table 2.1 of the WLP (Chapter 2) shows these responsibilities in more detail.
16. What is the Waste Collection Authority (WCA)?
The Waste Collection Authority (WCA), is a local authority charged with the collection of waste from each household in its area on a regular basis. It can also collect, if requested, commercial and industrial wastes from the private sector. In England these are the District Councils and Unitary Authorities.
17. What is the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA)?
The Waste Disposal Authority (WDA) is a local authority charged with providing disposal sites to which it directs the waste collection authorities for the disposal of controlled waste, and with providing civic amenity facilities. In England these are the County Councils and the Unitary Authorities.
18. What is the Waste Regulation Authority (WRA)?
The Waste Regulation Authority (WRA) is responsible for implementing the Waste Management Licensing Regulations. In England this is the Environment Agency. They are also responsible for implementing the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control regulations.
19. What is a ‘Waste Management Licence'?
A licence issued by the Environment Agency under the provisions of the Environment protection Act 1990, to control the operation and post-operational monitoring and management of waste disposal sites and facilities. The Environment Agency also issue permits for operations to be carried out under the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control regulations (IPPC permits) for developments such as landfill and waste to energy facilities.
For further information, please contact us.
Contact Details
By Post
Waste Local Plan
Environmental Services
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JD
By Email
mineralsandwastepolicy@wiltshire.gov.uk
By Telephone
01225 713426 or 01225 713429
By Fax
01225 713473
By Hand
County Hall, Trowbridge
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm
