Warwickshire County Council Copy of representations made in accordance with Regulation 20 on the Waste Core Strategy Publication Document (Regulation 19) And A copy of the Council’s draft response to the issues raised, including proposed changes to be submitted to the Inspector for consideration. September 2012 Contents Page 1.0 Introduction ……………………………………………. 1 2.0 Consultation Activities ……………………………...... 2 3.0 Summary of Comments ……………………………… 3-5 4.0 Conclusion ……………………………………………... 5 Appendices Appendix A Correspondence with Northamptonshire County Council Appendix B Correspondence with Warwickshire Police Annexes Annex A Table of representations and Officer comments Annex B Schedule of Changes Introduction The Waste Core Strategy Publication document (“Submission draft”) was subject to representations on the ‘soundness’ and ‘legal compliance’ of the plan. This was in accordance with Regulation 19 and 20 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 20121. Originally the consultation was scheduled for a period of 8 weeks beginning on 30th March 2012 and ending on the 25th May 2012. However, due to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) being published, the Council decided to extend the consultation until 4.00pm on Friday 15th June 2012. This was to allow stakeholders an opportunity to consider the NPPF and to comment on whether the Waste Core Strategy is consistent with national policy and meets the revised tests of soundness. This document includes all of the representations that were received (See Annex A) and sets out the officer comments and actions. Where the Council intends to submit proposed changes to the Inspector for consideration, these are detailed next to the individual representation. These are also listed in Annex B: Schedule of changes to be submitted to the Inspector for consideration. 1 Please note that the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 came into effect on 6th April 2012. Regulations 19 and 20 have now replaced Regulations 27 and 28 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) 9England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009. 1 Consultation Activites – Publication The following consultation activities were undertaken during the consultation period. Publicity A statutory press notice was placed in a selection of newspapers throughout the county to ensure that every part of the county was covered. The press notices were published in the following newspapers on the following dates: Nuneaton News 21st March 2012 Tamworth Herald 22nd March 2012 Atherstone Herald 22nd March 2012 Stratford Herald 22nd March 2012 Leamington Courier 23rd March 2012 Warwick Courier 23rd March 2012 Rugby Advertiser 23rd March 2012 Libraries and Reception Points Copies of the document were available in each of the District/Borough Council reception areas and all libraries throughout Warwickshire were given documents to display. The number of documents that they were given was dependent on the size of the library. All of the larger libraries which are classed as ‘Band A & B’ were given 10 copies of the document, representation form and guidance note with Band C & Band D libraries receiving 5 copies each. All of the reception points which included, Warwick District Council, Stratford-upon Avon District Council, North Warwickshire Borough, Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough, Rugby Borough Council and Shire Hall, Warwick all received 5 copies of the document, representation form and guidance note. Letters and copies of the document A letter and a copy of the consultation document together with a copy of the representation form and guidance note were sent out to all statutory consultees. A decision was taken to send a CD and letter to ‘other’ consultees and ‘general’ consultees. In addition, a letter was sent out to all ‘waste general’ consultees directing them to the document available on the website. 2 Summary of comments A total of 30 individuals or organisations made representations during the consultation period. A number of individuals made multiple representations and a total of 38 representations were received. Question 1 – part A. Do you consider the Core Strategy to be ‘Prepared in accordance with the Duty to Cooperate, legal and procedural requirements’)? A total of 21 individual representations were received in relation to this question. All of the representations received considered the Waste Core Strategy to have been ‘prepared in accordance with the Duty to Cooperate, legal and procedural requirements’. Question 1 – part B. Do you consider the Core Strategy to be ‘sound’? A total of 21 individual representations answered question 1 - part B in relation to this part of the question. Of these, 3 individual representations deemed the Waste Core Strategy ‘unsound’. Of the 3 individual representations, 2 individuals did not find the plan justified. Leicestershire County Council stated that the plan was not justified due to an incorrect circular being used (Change to Circular 02/99). Leicestershire County Council also felt the plan was not justified due to the MSW arisings data that was used and the growth rate of 0.5% which applied. Warwickshire Wildlife Trust (WWT) considered the plan to be unsound due to it not being effective and not consistent with national policy. WWT believes that there should be stronger wording in order to provide greater protection for statutory and non-statutory wildlife sites and to ensure that the policy enables a suitable mechanism to enhance biodiversity in addition to conserving existing assets. However, 4 individuals submitted comments that alluded to issues of soundness. Northamptonshire County Council would like to see consideration given, for the inclusion of a specific policy, containing criteria on which proposals for hazardous waste treatment/disposal would be determined within the DPD. In addition to this, Northamptonshire County Council would also like to see reference made to radioactive waste and a policy on this waste type included in the DPD. Pillerton Priors Parish Council is very disappointed and seriously concerned that having replied to previous consultations for the Waste Core Strategy Consultation there does still not appear to be any clear strategy for specifically dealing with the collection/storage and disposal of animal carcasses (hazardous waste). 3 Cllr Izzi Seccombe fully endorsed the comments of the PC of Pillerton Priors. Further, Cllr Seccombe would like the points raised by the Parish Council to be looked at carefully. Sustainable Rugby has considerable doubts on the soundness of exporting residual waste to two energy from waste plants, one in Coventry and in 2013 to Four Oaks in Staffordshire. They do not believe based on figures used in the Waste Core Strategy on reduced waste arisings, that it offers a “value for money" solution to the tax payers of Warwickshire. They do not believe that Warwickshire County Council have been ambitious enough in terms of recovery and resource management. In addition to this and in terms of soundness they believe that the issue of adequate facilities for the recovery of building materials has been avoided. Other Issues raised during the consultation In addition to the representations received that were objections, a number of key issues were also raised during the consultation which needed to be considered and responded to as appropriate. A summary of the issues raised are shown below: Development in the Green Belt Observations were made by North Warwickshire Borough Council at the Preferred Options stage of consultation regarding development in the Green Belt. It has been acknowledged by North Warwickshire in their response to the ‘Publication’ consultation that Warwickshire County Council has noted most of their concerns. North Warwickshire Borough Council do not feel that there are many further grounds for objection, particularly in terms of legal compliance (including the Duty to Cooperate) or soundness. Action taken: A meeting between Warwickshire County Council Planning Policy Team and North Warwickshire Borough Council Planning Policy Team took place on Tuesday 3rd July 2012 at North Warwickshire Borough Council offices. Any outstanding concerns have now been resolved following this meeting and it was confirmed by North Warwickshire that they do not object to the plan. Safeguarding of waste management sites FCC Environment raised a concern over the wording of Policy CS8 – Safeguarding of Waste Management Sites. They would like to see more detail as to which proposals would be objected to by the County Council, for non-waste developments that are adjacent to waste management uses. It is currently considered to be potentially prohibitive to their possible aspirations to redevelop Judkins for mixed use development. It has been suggested that the policy should send out much more of a positive message around mixed use development of existing waste sites and that 4 these will be supported provided that acceptable integration of the mixed uses can be achieved. Action taken: A meeting was held with FCC Environment in November 2011 and at this meeting, concerns over this policy were not raised. Warwickshire Police – consultation with Warwickshire Police Road Safety Unit Warwickshire Police suggested that there should be a requirement to consult with the Warwickshire Police Road Safety Unit, early on in the planning process. They have provided some suggested wording which can be viewed in Appendix B. Action taken: A meeting was held with Warwickshire Police