Central and Eastern Berkshire Joint Minerals & Waste Plan Proposed Submission Plan July 2020 Prepared by Hampshire Services © Crown copyright and database rights Hampshire County Council 2019 Ordnance Survey 100018817 Derived from 1:50000 scale BGS Digital www.hants.gov.uk/sharedexpertise Data under Licence 2011/049F, British Geological Survey ©NERC About the Proposed Submission Plan Central and Eastern Berkshire – Joint Minerals & Waste Plan Local Planning Authorities have a statutory responsibility to prepare and maintain an up-to-date local plan. Bracknell Forest Council, Reading Borough Council, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham Borough Council (collectively referred to as the ‘Central & Eastern Berkshire Authorities’) are working in partnership to produce a Joint Minerals & Waste Plan which will guide minerals and waste decision-making in the Plan area for the period up to 2036. The Joint Minerals & Waste Plan will build upon the currently adopted minerals and waste plans for the Berkshire area, and improve, update, and strengthen the policies and provide details of strategic sites that are proposed to deliver the vision. The currently adopted minerals and waste plans for the Berkshire area are the Replacement Minerals Local Plan for Berkshire, adopted in 1995 with subsequently adopted alterations in 1997 and 20011 and the Waste Local Plan for Berkshire adopted in 19982. The Minerals Local Plan and Waste Local Plan cover the administrative areas of the Central & Eastern Berkshire Authorities, as well as Slough Borough Council and West Berkshire Council. While these plans covered the period until 2006, the Secretary of State directed that a number of policies in them should be saved indefinitely until replaced by national, regional or local minerals and waste policies. For the Central & Eastern Berkshire Authorities, these saved policies will be replaced by the Joint Minerals & Waste Plan, when it is adopted. A review of the Replacement Minerals Local Plan for Berkshire and the Waste Local Plan for Berkshire was previously being undertaken on behalf of the six Berkshire Unitary Authorities by the Joint Strategic Planning Unit. During the Examination of the Core Strategy concerns were raised and the Secretary of State subsequently formally requested the withdrawal of the Core Strategy in January 2010. Following a review of minerals and waste planning, the Central & Eastern Berkshire Authorities decided to progress with a Joint Minerals & Waste Plan. While the Joint Minerals & Waste Plan does not cover Slough Borough Council3 or West Berkshire Council4, close coordination of the work between the Berkshire authorities will 1 Replacement Minerals Local Plan for Berkshire 2001 - https://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/planning-and- building-control/planning/planning-policy/development-plan/minerals-and-waste 2 Waste Local Plan for Berkshire (1998) - https://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/planning-and-building- control/planning/planning-policy/development-plan/minerals-and-waste 3 Slough Borough Council minerals and waste policy - http://www.slough.gov.uk/council/strategies-plans-and- policies/minerals-and-waste.aspx 4 Emerging West Berkshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan - http://info.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=29081 Central and Eastern Berkshire: Joint Minerals & Waste Plan 1 Proposed Submission (July 2020) continue in order to plan for minerals and waste strategically and address any cross- border issues that may arise. Preparing the Plan has involved engagement and collaboration with communities, local organisations, and businesses. Public consultation has been held for each stage of the plan-making process. This Proposed Submission consultation document follows a ‘Draft Plan’ consultation carried out in the summer / autumn of 2018 and two focused consultations held in 2019 and 2020. The feedback and responses from these consultations have informed the direction of the Proposed Submission Plan and accompanying Policies Map. The Plan has also been prepared in cooperation with neighbouring authorities and other minerals and waste planning authorities that may be affected by the strategies and policies in the Plan. This has ensured that effective cooperation has been undertaken where there are cross-boundary impacts. The Central & Eastern Berkshire – Joint Minerals & Waste Plan (JMWP) covers the period to 2036. This aligns the Plan with other Local Plans being developed by the authorities and meets the National Planning Policy Framework requirements (see Figure 1). The JMWP sets out the overarching strategy and planning policies for mineral extraction, importation and recycling, and the waste management of all waste streams that are generated or managed in Central and Eastern Berkshire. Figure 1: Joint Mineral & Waste Plan related planning documents Central and Eastern Berkshire: Joint Minerals & Waste Plan 2 Proposed Submission (July 2020) The Proposed Submission stage This stage includes the preparation of the Proposed Submission Plan and outlines the version that is intended to be submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination. The Proposed Submission Plan identifies and sets out the following subjects for the period up to, and including, the year 2036: • The long-term Spatial Vision and Strategic Objectives for minerals and waste in Central and Eastern Berkshire; • The delivery strategy policies for minerals (M) and waste (W) planning that identifies how the objectives will be achieved through development policies in the plan period; • The Development Management (DM) policies that will be used when the Local Planning Authorities make decisions on planning applications; and • How each policy will be implemented and monitored by the Central & Eastern Berkshire Authorities to ensure their effectiveness. The ‘Draft Plan’ Consultation in Summer 2018 was the initial version which set out the proposed approach. As a result of the responses received and consideration of local circumstances, the draft policies and proposed allocations were reviewed and amended. A summary report of the representations made at the Draft Plan stage is available on the Joint Minerals & Waste Plan consultation website: www.hants.gov.uk/berksconsult. Two further Regulation 18 consultations were carried out following the Draft Plan on specific issues. The first was a site-specific consultation in June 2019 on the Bray Quarry Extension site in the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead which was nominated in response to a further call for sites. In early 2020, a further consultation was carried out which included two nominated sites: one in Wokingham (Land west of Basingstoke Road) and one in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Area between Horton Brook and Poyle Quarry), an Area of Search approach to sharp sand and gravel provision and Policy DM15 (Past Operator Performance). The summary reports of the representations made to both these consultations are available on the Joint Minerals & Waste Plan consultation website: www.hants.gov.uk/berksconsult. Making representations on this Proposed Submission Plan We would like to hear from you in respect of your views on the ‘soundness’ (see below) and legal compliance of this Proposed Submission document and its accompanying material (Appendix C lists the accompanying material). Representations made on this Plan must refer to the tests of ‘soundness’ or they may not be considered by the Secretary of State. Representations can be made on this Proposed Submission Plan from 3 September 2020 for a period of six weeks until 15 October 2020. Central and Eastern Berkshire: Joint Minerals & Waste Plan 3 Proposed Submission (July 2020) This document, the Sustainability Appraisal (incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment) (SA/SEA) Environmental Report, Habitats Regulation Appropriate Assessment, Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and other supporting documentation, along with a Representations Form and a survey questionnaire, are all available to view and download from the Joint Minerals & Waste Plan consultation website: www.hants.gov.uk/berksconsult. Soundness The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) contains a series of tests which local plans are examined against to assess whether the plan has been produced in the right way and provides an effective planning framework for the area it covers. These ‘tests of soundness’ are set out as follows in the NPPF5: a) Positively prepared – providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs; and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development; b) Justified – an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence; c) Effective – deliverable over the plan period, and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground; and d) Consistent with national policy – enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in this Framework. The Plan will be examined against these tests of soundness (and legal compliance) and stakeholders are now asked to comment on whether the plan meets the tests or needs to be changed in some way to meet them. The stages to come Representations made on this Proposed Submission Plan, SA/SEA report and other