Meeting documents

Cabinet
Tuesday, 15 November 2005

CA151105-15

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ITEM CA15

CABINET – 15 NOVEMBER 2005

OXFORDSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK - ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT 2005

Report by Head of Sustainable Development

Introduction

  1. Under the new planning system brought in by the Government through the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the County Council must prepare a Minerals and Waste Development Framework to replace the Minerals and Waste Local Plan. Work was commenced when the new Act came into operation in September 2005.

  2. The first stage in the new plan process was the preparation of the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (2005 – 2008). This was submitted to the Secretary of State in March 2004 and brought into effect on 16 May 2005. It is a public statement of the Council’s programme for the next 3 years for production of the following Minerals and Waste Development Documents, which together will make up the Minerals and Waste Development Framework:

    1. Statement of Community Involvement – the Council’s policy for and the standards to be achieved in involving the community in local development documents and planning applications;

    2. Minerals and Waste Core Strategy – vision, spatial strategy and core policies for minerals and waste development in Oxfordshire;

    3. Minerals Site Proposals and Policies – proposed locations and detailed policies for future minerals developments;

    4. Waste Site Proposals and Policies – proposed locations and detailed policies for future waste management developments;

    5. Proposals Map – spatial representation of policies and site proposals in documents (b), (c) and (d) above;

    6. Minerals and Waste Development Code of Practice – detailed guidance on the operation of development sites;

    7. Sustainability Appraisal incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment Reports – produced at key stages in the preparation of each Minerals and Waste Development Document; and

    8. Annual Monitoring Reports – to assess implementation of the Development Scheme and the extent to which policies are being achieved.

    Requirement for Annual Monitoring Reports

  3. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires every planning authority to make an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) to the Secretary of State on their Local Development Framework. The County Council must therefore produce an AMR on the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework.

  4. The AMR must report on the implementation of the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme and on the extent to which policies set out in Minerals and Waste Development Documents are being achieved. Reports should cover a 12 month period ending on 31 March and must be submitted to the Secretary of State by the following 31 December. The first Oxfordshire AMR (2005) will therefore be for the period 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005, and must be submitted by 31 December 2005.

    5. Implementation of the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme

  5. The Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme only came into effect on 16 May 2005. Work undertaken so far on the Minerals and Waste Development Documents listed in the Scheme therefore largely falls to be reported in next year’s AMR. The only matters required to be reported in this year’s AMR are that the Development Scheme was submitted within the required timescale, by 28 March 2005, and that preparation of the Statement of Community Involvement and the Core Strategy and Minerals and Waste Sites Proposals and Policies documents was commenced. The AMR 2005 can also usefully report the progress that has been made since April 2005 on preparing these documents and on the Sustainability Appraisal incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment.

  6. The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme must be reviewed and revised when necessary and rolled forward at least annually, to maintain an up to date 3 year programme. The review of the Scheme should be informed by the AMR. A review and roll-forward of the Development Scheme will be carried out early in 2006, following submission of the AMR 2005 to the Secretary of State.

    7. Monitoring Achievement of Policies

  7. The Minerals and Waste Development Documents that will make up the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework have not yet been prepared and therefore it is not yet possible to report on the extent to which policies in them are being achieved. The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme also includes the ‘saved’ Oxfordshire Structure Plan and Minerals and Waste Local Plan. The policies in these plans are not generally written in a way that enables their achievement to be readily reported on, since annual reporting was not a requirement when they were prepared. The AMR should report on these policies to the extent that this is practical and meaningful, including the following:

    1. Production of land-won aggregate minerals (sand and gravel, sand, limestone and ironstone);

    2. Permissions granted for aggregate mineral extraction;

    3. Landbanks of permitted reserves of aggregate minerals;

    4. Site provision for aggregate mineral extraction in the Development Plan;

    5. Production of secondary and recycled aggregates;

    6. Capacity of aggregates recycling plant;

    7. Amounts of waste managed by different methods;

    8. Permissions granted for waste management facilities;

    9. Capacity of waste management facilities of different types;

    10. Site provision for waste management facilities in the Development Plan.

  8. These matters relate closely to and should be considered in conjunction with the Government’s Core Output Indicators listed in paragraph 9 below.

    9. Core Output Indicators

  9. In addition to monitoring of individual policies, the Government has specified certain ‘Local Development Framework Core Output Indicators’ which should be monitored and reported on in the AMR. For minerals and waste these are:

    • Production of primary land won aggregates;

    • Production of secondary / recycled aggregates;

    • Capacity of new waste management facilities by type; and

    • Amount of municipal waste arising, and managed by management type, and the percentage each management type represents of the waste managed.

Annual Monitoring Report 2005

  1. The proposed key contents of the AMR 2005 are set out in the Annex (download as .doc file). (Appendix - download as .doc file). These include the matters to be covered on implementation of the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme, monitoring achievement of policies and the Government’s core output indicators, as outlined above. A full report for submission to the Secretary of State and publication on the County Council website is in preparation.

  2. The main conclusions of the AMR 2005 are:

    1. The key milestones in the preparation of the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework to date have been met.

    2. Production of land-won aggregate minerals in Oxfordshire has decreased and production in 2003 was significantly below the proposed new apportionments for Oxfordshire for both sand and gravel and crushed rock.

    3. The landbank of permitted reserves of crushed rock was 16 years, but the landbanks for soft sand and sharp sand and gravel were below the government guidance level of at least 7 years.

    4. Of the areas identified for future working in the Minerals and Waste Local Plan only approximately 3 million tonnes of sharp sand and gravel resources remain, and there are no areas identified for soft sand.

    5. Reliable and comprehensive data on secondary and recycled aggregates is not currently available at county level.

    6. Approximately 1.5 million tonnes of waste is managed in Oxfordshire each year, comprising: 20% municipal waste; 30% commercial and industrial waste; and 50% construction and demolition waste

    7. Of just over 300,000 tonnes of municipal waste produced in Oxfordshire in 2004/05, 20% was recycled, 10% composted and 70% disposed to landfill.

    8. Permission was granted for new capacity of 25,000 tonnes per annum for recycling and 20,000 tonnes per annum for composting in the report year.

    9. There is no recent, reliable and comprehensive data on the total amounts of landfill and waste treatment capacity currently available in Oxfordshire.

    10. The Minerals and Waste Local Plan identifies only one site for waste management facilities, for a waste reception (recycling) centre, and no proposal has been put forward for this site.

    Financial and Staff Implications

  3. The resource implications of preparing the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework are set out in the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme. The Council’s budget makes provision for the resources envisaged to be required for preparation of the Development Framework over the next 3 years. This requirement is not expected to be affected by the conclusions from the AMR 2005.

    4. RECOMMENDATION

  4. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED subject to any comments on the part of the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee (to be reported following the Committee’s meeting on 9 November), to approve the key contents set out in the Annex to the report as the basis of the Annual Monitoring Report 2005 for the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework and authorise the Head of Sustainable Development, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, to finalise the Report for submission to the Secretary of State and publication on the County Council website in accordance with Section 35 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and Regulation 48 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004.

CHRIS COUSINS
Head of Sustainable Development

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Peter Day, tel. Oxford 815544

November 2005

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