Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2017/129

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

Report by Director for Planning & Place (CA9).

Government planning policy in the NPPF requires the County Council to prepare an annual Local Aggregate Assessment (LAA). The LAA establishes the amount of provision for mineral working that should be made in the Minerals and Waste Local Plan and it can also be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications for mineral working. The current LAA 2014 was approved by the Cabinet in November 2014. It set provision levels for sharp sand and gravel and crushed rock higher than the 10 year sale average. It provides the basis for the levels of provision for mineral supply in policy M2 of the Core Strategy (Part 1 of the Minerals and Waste Local Plan) which was adopted in September 2017.

Updated information on sales and reserves of aggregates in Oxfordshire, for 2014, 2015 and 2016, is now available. Following the adoption of the Core Strategy, a revised LAA should now be produced, taking into account this more up to date information.

Sales of sharp sand and gravel increased in 2014 and 2015 but fell back in 2016, and there was a further fall in the 10 year sales average. Sales of soft sand and crushed rock increased above the LAA 2014 provision levels. Notwithstanding this new information, it is considered that the approach and methodology used in the LAA 2014 continues to be robust and defensible and that the resultant analysis and conclusions continue to hold; and that the provision levels in the LAA 2014 continue to be appropriate and should be carried forward in the revised LAA 2017. It is considered to be too early in the monitoring period for the Core Strategy to change the LAA provision levels. A revised draft LAA 2017 is put forward on this basis.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to

(a)      approve the Oxfordshire Local Aggregate Assessment 2017 at Annex 1 for use as the basis for provision for mineral working in the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan and for calculating the Oxfordshire landbank;

(b)      authorise the Director for Planning and Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment to make any necessary minor corrections and amendments and publish the Oxfordshire Local Aggregate Assessment 2017 on the Council website.

Recommendations agreed.

Government planning policy in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires the County Council to prepare an annual Local Aggregate Assessment (LAA). The LAA establishes the amount of provision for mineral working that should be made in the Minerals and Waste Local Plan and it can also be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications for mineral working. The current LAA 2014 was approved by the Cabinet in November 2014. Updated information on sales and reserves of aggregates in Oxfordshire, for 2014, 2015 and 2016, is now available. Following the adoption of the Core Strategy, Cabinet considered a report seeking approval of a revised LAA, taking into account this more up to date information.

Councillor John Sanders agreed with the conclusions set out at paragraph 6.6 of the draft LAA document and looked forward to the next review as this was an issue that needed to be monitored.

RESOLVED:             to

(a)       approve the Oxfordshire Local Aggregate Assessment 2017 at Annex 1 for use as the basis for provision for mineral working in the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan and for calculating the Oxfordshire landbank;

(b)       authorise the Director for Planning and Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment to make any necessary minor corrections and amendments and publish the Oxfordshire Local Aggregate Assessment 2017 on the Council website.