Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council Assessing Sand and Gravel Sites for Allocation in the Shropshire Sub Region

Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council Assessing Sand and Gravel Sites for Allocation in the Shropshire Sub Region Site Assessment Report June 2010 Creating the environment for business Copyright and Non-Disclosure Notice The contents and layout of this report are subject to copyright owned by Entec (© Entec UK Limited 2010) save to the extent that copyright has been legally assigned by us to another party or is used by Entec under licence. To the extent that we own the copyright in this report, it may not be copied or used without our prior written agreement for any purpose other than the purpose indicated in this report. The methodology (if any) contained in this report is provided to you in confidence and must not be disclosed or copied to third parties without the prior written agreement of Entec. Disclosure of that information may constitute an actionable breach of confidence or may otherwise prejudice our commercial interests. Any third party who obtains access to this report by any means will, in any event, be subject to the Third Party Disclaimer set out below. Third-Party Disclaimer Any disclosure of this report to a third-party is subject to this disclaimer. The report was prepared by Entec at the instruction of, and for use by, our client named on the front of the report. It does not in any way constitute advice to any third-party who is able to access it by any means. Entec excludes to the fullest extent lawfully permitted all liability whatsoever for any loss or damage howsoever arising from reliance on the contents of this report. We do not however exclude our liability (if any) for personal injury or death resulting from our negligence, for fraud or any other matter in relation to which we cannot legally exclude liability. Document Revisions No. Details Date V1 Draft to client 05.03.10 V2 Revised draft to client 31.03.10 V3 Final draft report 25.06.10 V4 Final approved version to client 23.08.10 © Entec UK Limited Page ii June 2010 Creating the environment for business © Entec UK Limited Page iv June 2010 Creating the environment for business Executive Summary In December 2009, Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council commissioned Entec UK Ltd to undertake an assessment of possible sand and gravel sites which could potentially be allocated to deliver future mineral needs for the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin sub region (administrative areas of Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council). The assessment has been commissioned because both Councils are required to replace their Local Plans with Local Development Frameworks (LDFs), which includes the preparation of Development Plan Documents (DPDs). DPDs set out the spatial strategy and policies for each local authority and require evidence studies to support them. Both Councils have begun to prepare their LDFs. Telford and Wrekin Council has already adopted their Core Strategy DPD but does not include any minerals policies. The Council has proposed an early review of its Core Strategy to commence during 2010 and the preparation of a Minerals DPD during 2011. Shropshire Council is currently progressing its LDF Core Strategy. A final version of the Core Strategy was published in February 2010 with representations on the 'soundness' of the plan invited before it is finalised for submission to the Secretary of State for independent examination. Policy CS20 of the Core Strategy outlines the policy approach to strategic planning for minerals in Shropshire. This sets out that Shropshire will apply a sustainable approach to mineral working balancing environmental considerations against the need to maintain an adequate and steady supply of minerals. This approach includes allocating sites within broad search locations for sand and gravel which have been derived from British Geological Survey data. Further context for the assessment includes the fact that Communities and Local Government recently published revised national and regional guidelines for aggregates provision in England for the period 2005 to 2020 inclusive. The provision for the West Midlands, set out in these guidelines, has recently been apportioned to each Mineral Planning Authority (MPA) following a decision by the Regional Planning Body, the West Midlands Regional Assembly (WMRA). However, in light of the recent change in national government, there is considerable uncertainty regarding the legal status of the Assembly's decision. Shropshire Council, together with the majority of the MPAs in the West Midlands region, and the minerals industry, does not accept the revised sub-regional apportionment targets because of doubts about their legal status and because they were based on inadequate evidence and a flawed methodology. The previous aggregate apportionment for the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin sub region was 0.82 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). Production trends show that the level of sand and gravel production has been falling since 2004 with average sales of sand and gravel in the sub-region over the last five years amounting to 0.8mtpa. Local evidence suggests the landbank (existing sand and gravel planning permissions) may provide supply for up to 20 years. Although this shows that there is a substantial landbank for the sub region, there are local issues relating to the working of these planning commitments in particular, with many of the larger operators phasing their permissions in accordance with market trends. This has meant that there are a number of dormant sites with large © Entec UK Limited Page v June 2010 Creating the environment for business permitted reserves which have not yet been worked and do not appear likely to be worked in the current economic climate. Within this context, the Councils have commissioned the sand and gravel assessment because it will: Enable the two Councils to demonstrate that a sound methodology has been applied in the identification of potential sites for future sand and gravel working; Provide evidence to support policies in both the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin Local Development Frameworks - in particular evidence to inform the allocation of future sand and gravel sites, where these are required, as part of Shropshire Council’s Site Allocations and Development Management DPD; Help inform the two Councils’ response to the revision of the West Midlands regional sub-regional apportionment exercise which will form part of the Regional Spatial Strategy Phase 3 revision (or equivalent) including the development of separate sand and gravel apportionments for the areas administered by Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council if appropriate. This assessment is primarily concerned with identifying which sites comprise the best options should further allocations be necessary. The assessment approach has been developed in the context of relevant planning and environmental policy. This has included national planning policy statements, the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy, relevant Environment Agency policy and the emerging local planning policy. In particular, Minerals Planning Statement 1 has been used to develop the assessment criteria as this policy should be considered when allocating sites for mineral extraction. It should be noted that following the change in Government and their intention to abolish Regional Spatial Strategies the regional planning policy relevant to Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin is likely to change. The assessment of site suitability has been based upon delivering key planning, environmental and sustainability objectives drawn from this policy framework. An assessment matrix has been compiled to assess site opportunities and constraints using indicators and threshold weightings to measure site performance against each objective. This has provided a quantitative score for each site assessed. The threshold weightings have generally been based on the site’s proximity to national, regional or local designations and also include the site’s relationship to defined zones of sensitivity (e.g. flood risk). The indicators have been drawn from readily available information including both desk based mapping and publications which have been complemented with short site visits to verify information. The site assessment has also included a qualitative appraisal to provide a more reasoned judgement of site suitability. This has used an overall grading system of A-D to avoid quantitative scoring masking key constraints. Before finalising the criteria to be used in the assessment, Entec and the Councils held a workshop on the 25th January 2010 with Members from both Councils and key planning officers attending. The objectives were to outline the context and approach for the assessment and discuss and agree the weighting of the criteria proposed. Overall, those that attended felt that the criteria, objectives and proposed weightings were reasonable and the © Entec UK Limited Page vi June 2010 Creating the environment for business approach would determine site suitability in terms of opportunities and constraints for sand and gravel extraction. Where possible, changes to the approach have been made which address specific feedback received from the workshop. Sites considered for the assessment have been provided from the Councils call for potential sand and gravel sites. Mineral operators, landowners and agents with a known interest in the sub region were contacted in November 2009 to submit details regarding potential sites. 26 sites were submitted to the Councils for consideration. Some submissions

Load more