Agenda item

Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework: Preferred Minerals Core Strategy for Consultation

Cabinet Member: Growth & Infrastructure

Forward Plan Ref: 2011/125

Contact: Peter Day, Minerals & Waste Policy Team Leader Tel: (01865) 815544

Report by Deputy Director for Environment & Economy – Growth & Infrastructure (CA9).

The Minerals and Waste Core Strategy will set out the vision, objectives, spatial strategy, core policies and implementation framework for the supply of minerals and management of waste in Oxfordshire to 2030. The County Council must carry out consultation on a preferred strategy before the Core Strategy is submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination. This consultation is to be undertaken in September/October 2011. A draft strategy for minerals was considered by the Minerals and Waste Plan Working Group on 9 May 2011. The Working Group has recommended to Cabinet that this should form the basis of a preferred minerals core strategy for consultation.

The report summarises comments that have been received on the report by Atkins on Local Assessment of Aggregates Supply Requirements for Oxfordshire and sets out actions to address the key points raised. It puts forward a draft (preferred) planning strategy for minerals, for public consultation. This includes a vision and obectives for minerals, minerals polices and other core polices. It incorporate the aggregates supply figures and the strategy for the location of mineral workings agreed by Cabinet on 16 February 2011.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a) Agree Annex 2 as the County Council’s draft minerals planning strategy for the purposes of consultation.

(b) Delegate authority to finalise the consultation document to the Deputy Director (Growth and Infrastructure) in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Growth and Infrastructure.

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to:

(a) Agree Annex 2 as the County Council’s draft minerals planning strategy for the purposes of consultation subject to the following corrections:

Page 254, Paragraph 4.10, line 5:

Delete ’15.75 million tonnes of crushed rock’; Insert ’13.23 million tonnes of crushed rock’;

Page 255, Figure 6:

In the third box:

Delete ’15.75 million tonnes’; Insert ’13.23 million tonnes’;

Net requirement over plan period (mt): Delete ‘2.26’; Insert ‘Nil’.

(b) Delegate authority to finalise the consultation document to the Deputy Director (Growth and Infrastructure) in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Growth and Infrastructure.

Cabinet considered a report summarising comments that had been received on the report by Atkins on Local Assessment of Aggregates Supply Requirements for Oxfordshire and setting out actions to address the key points raised. Cabinet agreed a draft (preferred) planning strategy for minerals, for public consultation. This included a vision and objectives for minerals, minerals policies and other core policies. It incorporated the aggregates supply figures and the strategy for the location of mineral workings agreed by Cabinet on 16 February 2011.

Councillor Anne Purse, Shadow Cabinet Member for Growth & Infrastructure stated that she would like to see the areas of extraction in West Oxfordshire restored as far as possible to what was there before. She would like to see the open lowland wet meadow restored not just rushes and water. She also commented that the Strategy relied too heavily on gravel extracted from West Oxfordshire. There should be more efforts to extract gravel from other areas closer to the areas of need where growth was expected. It would have been better to have looked at a hybrid solution.

Councillor Mathew expressed reservations about the draft document as in his view it was not in the Council’s interest for a single operator to dominate extraction in Oxfordshire. He referred to the figures for extraction in West Oxfordshire commenting that the need was in South Oxfordshire and the Thames was a barrier between extraction and need. The bridges were an obstacle. He suggested an additional paragraph relating to a hybrid solution that he would like to see included in the consultation document. He had circulated this wording to Cabinet Members prior to the meeting. He suggested that there was a perception of prejudice that they were in a position to address..

The Cabinet Member for Growth & Infrastructure replied that two members of the Cabinet were from West Oxfordshire. The implication of prejudice was unfair. As the Cabinet Member she was unable to accept his suggested amendment. The issues raised had been discussed many times. There was a pressing need for clarity and certainty in the face of significant population growth leading to development. The figures had been reduced and the amount from secondary and recycled materials had been maximised.

Councillor Louise Chapman in speaking against the recommendations recognised the need for a policy and that there had been some changes made in the past. However she considered that the areas of growth should be taken into account and these were not in West Oxfordshire. Other strategies were aimed at minimising the distance of travel and the congestion on roads, particularly the A40. There was a need for consistency. She asked that the Cabinet Member for Growth and Infrastructure to identify other areas to minimise the distance travelled.

Councillor Lindsay-Gale replied that a new site at Cholsey had been added with good links to Didcot, and the Wantage and Grove area.

Councillor Fatemian in response to comments made by Councillor Mathew made it clear that neither he nor his family had any financial links in this matter.

Following a vote by a show of hands it was:

RESOLVED: (by 9 votes to 1) to:

(c) agree Annex 2 as the County Council’s draft minerals planning strategy for the purposes of consultation subject to the following corrections: