Draft Nottinghamshire Minerals Local Plan

Foreword

We have listened carefully to the needs of the minerals industry and the concerns of local residents to help us prepare an up-to-date Minerals Local Plan which will guide the future development of mineral planning in our county up to 2036.

Our aim is to ensure that our county can provide a steady and adequate supply of minerals over the planned period, by allocating the right number of quarries in the correct locations whilst providing adequate protection to communities and the environment.

This Draft Minerals Local Plan public consultation stage marks an important stage in the development of the new plan. It sets out the draft policies including a vision, strategic objectives, strategic policies, minerals provision polices (including site specific allocations) and development management policies that will guide the future development of minerals in Nottinghamshire.

We would like to know your thoughts on the draft proposals as we have to try and strike the best balance between the wide range of local, environmental and commercial interests involved.

I hope you will respond and your comments will be considered as part of the next stage of the plan's production.

County Councillor Phil Rostance

Vice Chairman, Communities and Place Committee

1.1. Every year, we each use the equivalent of 10 tonnes of minerals to maintain our way of life from building homes, offices and roads, to providing electricity and heat. Specialist minerals are used in many manufacturing processes and can even be found in cosmetics and food. It is therefore important to ensure that there is a sufficient supply of material to provide the infrastructure, buildings energy and goods that we need.

1.2. Nottinghamshire is rich in a wide variety of minerals – in fact most of the county overlies at least one potential surface or underground resource. Sand and gravel, gypsum and clay are our largest extractive industries, all of which are nationally important. Other minerals worked include building stone, silica sand and oil. There are also mineral resources such as shale gas that could be worked in the future.

1.3. Whilst many of our mineral resources remain plentiful, permitted reserves are often limited and finding sufficient new reserves to meet demand will be a major challenge over the next 15-20 years. Unlike other forms of development, minerals are finite and can only be worked where they are found. This factor combined with potential environmental impacts can limit where mineral extraction is feasible. It is therefore important both to identify, at least in broad terms, where future minerals extraction will be acceptable and to safeguard resources so that suitable sites are not unnecessarily lost to other development.

1.4. The County Council is preparing a new Minerals Local Plan to resolve these issues and to provide the planning policy against which all proposals for new minerals development will be assessed. This Draft plan consultation exercise forms an informal stage in preparing a new plan which will cover the period up to 2036.

Have your say

1.5. The purpose of this draft plan consultation exercise is to set out the draft vision, strategic objectives, strategic policies, minerals provision policies (including land allocations) and development management policies that will guide the future development of minerals in the County.

1.6. We need to hear from all sections of Nottinghamshire's communities about what they think about the choices. There is likely to be a wide range of views about the shape of future mineral extraction in the County and we want to find solutions that have the best consensus of opinion but that can also be delivered. It is therefore important you let us know what you think so we can take your views into account before any decisions are made about what should go into the new plan.

1.7. This document will be available for comments between July 27th and September 28th. We would encourage you to respond online to this consultation using our online consultation system.

How to make representations

1.8. If you would like to make representations on the Minerals Local Plan, we would encourage you to do so online via our website at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/minerals, using our interactive online representation system. However, you can also email or post us your comments.

What happens next?

1.9. At the end of this consultation exercise we will consider all comments received and we will then incorporate relevant comments in to the Submission Draft consultation document ready for another public consultation period prior to submission of the final plan to the planning inspectorate for examination.

Scope of the new minerals plan

1.10. Once adopted, the new Nottinghamshire Minerals Local Plan forms the land use planning strategy for mineral development within the County up to 2036. It will provide the basis for the determination of mineral planning applications within the County. Its over-arching theme is the promotion of sustainable development and achieving the highest quality restoration possible. This means balancing the economic benefits and need for minerals against the social and environmental disruption and harm that their extraction can cause. Long term environmental gains can be achieved, for example, by creating wildlife habitats out of worked out quarries. Sustainability also means safeguarding mineral resources from unnecessary sterilisation so they can remain available for extraction for future generations.

The Plan contains the following:

• An overview of the County in terms of population, transport, communications, the economy and resources, Green Belt, landscape, countryside, natural and built heritage, water, soil, air, health and climate, which will help us plan effectively for the future;
• A long term Vision for mineral development in Nottinghamshire to 2036;
• Strategic Objectives demonstrating how the Vision will be achieved
• Strategic Policies covering the key issues of Sustainable Development, Minerals Provision, Biodiversity-Led Restoration, Climate Change, Sustainable Transport, The Built, Historic and Natural Environment and the Nottinghamshire Green Belt;
• Mineral Provision Policies setting out the mineral requirements during the plan period to 2036, including land allocations to meet this demand;
• Development Management Policies, the purpose of which is to deliver the strategic policies and objectives by providing the criteria against which future minerals development will be assessed. They relate specifically to individual, site level criteria such as environmental impacts and standards and provide guidance about how planning applications for minerals development in the County will be assessed;
• A framework by which the implementation of and subsequent effect of the plan and its policies can be monitored and reviewed; and
• A Policies Map which identifies site allocations/policies and site specific Development Briefs.

Replacing our existing minerals policies

The new Minerals Local Plan will replace the existing saved policies contained in the Nottinghamshire Minerals Local Plan which was adopted in 2005.

This document can be made available in alternative formats or languages on request.

Supporting documents

The Minerals Local Plan is supported by a series of other documents that will help inform the development of the minerals local plan.

Local Aggregates Assessment (LAA)

The LAA summarises past aggregate production, the number of active quarries and the distribution of the extracted mineral. It includes 10 and 3 year average production figures as required by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and identifies key issues that could affect the future demand for aggregates over the next plan period. The LAA is produced on an annual basis taking account of the most recent production data.

Monitoring Report

These reports are produced at least annually and show how the County Council is progressing with preparing its new Local Plans and how well it’s current adopted policies are being implemented.

Statement of Community Involvement (SCI)

This sets out how Nottinghamshire County Council will consult and engage with local people, statutory bodies and other groups during the preparation of the Local Plan and on mineral planning applications.

Sustainability Appraisal (SA)

The purpose of the SA is to promote sustainable development through better integration of sustainability considerations in the preparation and adoption of plans. SA helps local planning authorities to ensure that sustainable development is considered in the preparation of their plans. The NPPF introduced a ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ as a ‘golden thread’ which should run through plan and decision-making.SA has been an integral part of all stages of the preparation of the new Minerals Local Plan, with reports produced at each stage. This Draft Plan is accompanied by the Issues and Options SA Report and the Interim SA Report on the Draft Plan.

Strategic Transport Assessment (STA)

Consultation with the Highways Authority during the preparation of the Minerals Local Plan has indicated that each proposed site would not have significant impacts on the highway network if a relevant package of mitigation measures were implemented. However, a detailed strategic transport assessment has been completed to ensure that there are no unacceptable overall impacts on the highway network. This concludes that the highway impacts of new or extended mineral sites would be minimal and highlights appropriate mitigation measures, where relevant. In addition to these strategic findings, all sites will require a detailed transport assessment at the planning application stage.

Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA)

A Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment for the Nottinghamshire Minerals Local Plan has been undertaken by AECOM on behalf of the County Council. The purpose of this report was to assess and map the different levels and types of flood risk to inform the development of the Minerals Local Plan. In addition to the work carried out, all sites will require a site-specific Flood Risk Assessment at the planning application stage.

Biodiversity Opportunity Mapping

A project undertaken for the Sherwood and Trent Valley areas to identify particular opportunities for the enhancement, expansion, creation and re-linking of wildlife habitats across the county. The project will help to meet creation/restoration targets set in the UK Post 2010 Biodiversity Framework and Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

How is the new Minerals Local Plan being prepared?

The preparation of the Minerals Local Plan includes a number of key consultation and other stages as illustrated below.

Key stages in preparing the new Minerals Local Plan

How to read this document

The following chapters share a number of common features:

Introduction

This is a short introduction to the topic, which gives the context for each of the topic/policy areas.

Justification

This sets out in detail an explanation of the policy, including the reasons why it is needed, justification for the approach taken and what the policy seeks to achieve.