Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2018/015

Contact: Peter Day, Minerals and Waste Policy Team Leader Tel: 07392 318899

Report by Director for Planning & Place (CA9).

Following adoption of the Minerals and Waste Local Plan: Core Strategy, the County Council must now prepare Part 2 of the Plan, the Minerals and Waste Local Plan: Site Allocations. The programme for preparing the Sites Plan in the Council's Minerals and Waste Development Scheme, December 2017 sets a target date of November 2020 for adoption. The first key stage is public consultation on site options (issues and options consultation), which is timetabled for June – July 2018.

In January 2018, the Proposed Site Assessment Methodology and the Draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report were published for informal consultation. These documents will be revised in the light of consultation responses and will be published alongside the issues and options consultation to provide a further opportunity for public comment.

The Core Strategy identifies the additional requirements for mineral working over the plan period that the Sites Plan needs to make provision for through site allocations. In particular there is a requirement to provide for an additional 6 million tonnes of sharp sand and gravel. There are also requirements for allocations in the Sites Plan to provide additional capacity for recycled and secondary aggregate production and for certain types of waste management, particularly recycling. The Proposed Site Assessment Methodology included a renewed ‘call’ for site nominations, for both minerals and waste. The sites that have been nominated are listed in annexes to the report.

At this stage in the plan preparation process, no decisions are made as to the sites that should or should not be included in the plan or on any other policy matters. The issues and options consultation is about inviting views on what the plan should cover and what issues it should address, and establishing the site options and seeking information that will help in assessing those options. Apart from an initial high-level screening of mineral site nominations, the nominated sites have not yet been assessed. Assessment will be carried out after consultation on these sites has been undertaken as part of the issues and options consultation.

The report puts forward possible consultation questions about the nominated sites. The issues and options consultation also provides an opportunity to seek views on other issues relating to the allocation of sites. Possible issues and related questions for inclusion in the consultation are put forward in an annex to the report.

The Mineral and Waste Cabinet Advisory Group has considered the nominated sites and discussed possible issues and questions to be included in the issues and options consultation. The views of CAG members have informed the report.

Preparation of the issues and options consultation document is taking slightly longer than envisaged and it is now proposed that it be published in July 2018, with the consultation period running to September. This should not affect the timetable for subsequent stages of preparation of the Sites Plan.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to authorise the Director for Planning & Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment, to approve the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Site Allocations Plan Issues and Options Consultation Document for publication for public consultation, the document to include the site options listed in annexes 3 and 4 and the consultation questions at paragraphs 25 – 28 and annex 5 of this report, following consultation with the Minerals and Waste Cabinet Advisory Group.

Following adoption of the Minerals and Waste Local Plan: Core Strategy, the County Council must now prepare Part 2 of the Plan, the Minerals and Waste Local Plan: Site Allocations. The programme for preparing the Sites Plan in the Council's Minerals and Waste Development Scheme, December 2017 sets a target date of November 2020 for adoption. The first key stage is public consultation on site options (issues and options consultation), which is timetabled for June – July 2018.

The issues and options consultation is about inviting views on what the plan should cover and what issues it should address, and establishing the site options and seeking information that will help in assessing those options. Cabinet considered a report that put forward possible consultation questions about the nominated sites.  The views of the Mineral and Waste Cabinet Advisory Group have informed the report.

Councillor John Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment, in endorsing the recommendations queried whether there would be further stakeholder consultation under the duty to co-operate. He highlighted the apparent contradiction in paragraphs 7 and 20 about the availability of sites and welcomed that there were no changes to the deadlines. Councillor Sanders highlighted Question 5 in Annex 5 which raised concerns he had always had about site extensions. Councillor Sanders commended the work undertaken by Peter Day, both his diligence and his accuracy and attention to detail.

Peter Day responded to the technical points raised by Councillor Sanders and highlighted that paragraphs 7 and 20 referred to different things. Responding to a question from Councillor Constance, Peter Day highlighted the difference between a site taking a longer period to work for a number of reasons and requests for site extensions where fresh land was added. He confirmed that both required planning applications and consultation. Peter Day corrected an error in the report: paragraph 22 should be consistent with the recommendation. He also clarified on paragraph 33 that the consultation period was to the end of September 2018.

During discussion Cabinet stressed the importance of the restoration process for local communities.

RESOLVED:             to authorise the Director for Planning & Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment, to approve the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Site Allocations Plan Issues and Options Consultation Document for publication for public consultation, the document to include the site options listed in annexes 3 and 4 and the consultation questions at paragraphs 25 – 28 and annex 5 of this report, following consultation with the Minerals and Waste Cabinet Advisory Group.