2016 SWAWP South West Aggregates Working Party Annual Report: 2016 Bath and North East Somerset ● Bristol ● Bournemouth ● Cornwall ● Dartmoor NP ● Devon ● Dorset ● Exmoor NP ● Gloucestershire ● Isles of Scilly ● North Somerset ● Plymouth ● Poole ● Somerset ● South Gloucestershire ● Swindon ● Torbay ● Wiltshire Annual Report 2016 SWAWP Chair: Sarah Povall Senior Planning Policy Officer Somerset County Council County Hall Taunton Somerset TA1 4DY Tel: (01823) 359404 Email: [email protected] Secretary: Julia Webberley David Jarvis Associates Limited 1 Tennyson Street Swindon SN1 5DT Tel: (01793) 612173 Email: [email protected] Enquiries concerning the purchase of this or other SWAWP publications referred to in this report should be addressed to the Secretary of the Working Party. David Jarvis Associates Limited Page 2 of 44 2429 September 2018 Annual Report 2016 SWAWP CONTENTS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 4 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 6 2. NATIONAL AND SUB NATIONAL MINERALS PLANNING............................................................................ 8 3. LOCAL AGGREGATES ASSESSMENTS ...................................................................................................... 10 4. SALES AND LANDBANKS OF CRUSHED ROCK AND LAND-WON AND MARINE DREDGED SAND AND GRAVEL ................................................................................................................................................. 12 5. SECONDARY AND RECYCLED AGGREGATES ............................................................................................ 25 6. SIGNIFICANT TRENDS AND EVENTS (BY MINERAL PLANNING AUTHORITY) ........................................... 28 7. PROGRESS ON MINERALS DEVELOPMENT PLANS (AS AT JULY 2017) ..................................................... 32 APPENDICES: Appendix 1 – Membership of the Working Party Appendix 2 – Active and Inactive Land-Won and Secondary Aggregate Sites 2016 Appendix 3 – Recycled Aggregate Sites 2016 David Jarvis Associates Limited Page 3 of 44 2429 September 2018 Annual Report 2016 SWAWP EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This annual report for 2016 has been prepared by the South West Aggregates Working Party (SWAWP), previously known as the South West Regional Aggregates Working Party (SWRAWP). As for earlier reports, it contains details of land won aggregates and permitted reserves and of marine dredged aggregates’ landings and resources. Other information on secondary and recycled aggregates and significant trends per region is also provided along with information on planning decisions and progress on local plans. In order to provide an indication of trends, this annual report compares data for 2016 with data for earlier years. In June 2009, the Department for Communities and Local Government (as it then was) published a revised set of National and Regional Guidelines for the Provision of Aggregates in England 2005- 2020, now called National and Sub-National Guidelines, and these are referred to in this report where appropriate. The National Planning Policy Framework (July 2018) (“NPPF”) and Planning Practice Guidance (which replaced the 2012 Guidance on the Managed Aggregate Supply System) indicates that the guideline amounts are to be taken into account by Mineral Planning Authorities (MPAs) when planning for the future demand for and supply of aggregates. In planning for a steady and adequate supply of aggregates, MPAs are to prepare an annual Local Aggregates Assessment either individually or, if appropriate, with other MPAs. The guideline amounts are to be used only to provide an indication of the total amount of aggregate provision that the MPAs, collectively within each Aggregate Working Party, should aim to provide. The guidelines will also provide individual MPAs, where they are having difficulty in obtaining data, with some understanding or context of the overall demand and possible sources that might be available in their working party area. Crushed Rock Sales of crushed rock aggregates (limestone, igneous rock and sandstone) within the South West totalled 23.26mt in 2016, a small increase on 2015 (22.16mt). Somerset continues to be the main vendor with over 58% of sales. Permitted reserves in the region in 2016 amounted to approximately 866mt at active and inactive sites. This represents a landbank of just under 39 years when based on the average of three years’ sales (2014-2016) and over 43 years when based on the average of 10 years’ sales (2007-2016). All crushed rock producing MPAs except Gloucestershire had a substantial landbank of permitted reserves in 2016 when based on either the 3 or 10 year sales’ averages, though for the first time, Somerset’s 3 year sales’ average has slipped to less than 30 years (down to 29.3). Just under 44% of the South West’s permitted reserves were held by sites in Somerset with the bulk of the remaining reserves being shared between Cornwall and the West of England followed by Devon. Land Won Sand and Gravel In 2016, sales of land won sand and gravel in the region totalled 2.98mt, a decrease on 2015 when the total was 3.22mt. Dorset continued to be the main production area, accounting for just under 47% of sales. David Jarvis Associates Limited Page 4 of 44 2429 September 2018 Annual Report 2016 SWAWP Permitted reserves in the region at the end of 2016 were 26.72mt, a fall on 2015 when reserves stood at 28.38mt. Based on the average of 10 years’ sales, this represents a landbank of just 7.84 years compared with 7.96 years at the end of 2015. Just over 50% of the South West’s reserves continue to be held at sites in Dorset. Dorset also continues to have the highest sales’ figure for sand and gravel, at 1.39mt in 2016. However, sales’ figures in both Dorset and Wiltshire were down on 2015 (1.39mt compared with 1.5mt in 2015 in Dorset and 0.42mt compared with 0.59mt in 2015 in Wiltshire). Gloucestershire, on the other hand, experienced an increase in its sales’ figure for the second year in a row – from 0.43mt in 2014 to 0.59mt in 2015 to 0.7mt in 2016. Wiltshire continues to have the lowest landbank of the sand and gravel producing regions in the South West standing at just 2.81 years when based on the 10 year average sales’ figures. Marine Dredged Sand and Gravel In 2016, marine dredged landings to English wharves in the South West, mainly sand dredged from licensed areas in the Bristol Channel, amounted to 0.61mt, an increase on the amount landed in 2015 (0.57mt). Avonmouth in Bristol continued to be the main wharf where 0.44mt were landed. Between 2015 and 2016 landings at Avonmouth increased by over 10% compared with an increase of just under 4% between 2014 and 2015. David Jarvis Associates Limited Page 5 of 44 2429 September 2018 Annual Report 2016 SWAWP 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This report is the latest in a series of annual reports that have been published by the Working Party since 1989. The report presents quantitative information on the production of aggregates in the South West during 2016 and the landbank of permitted reserves at the end of the year. As for previous annual reports, the report also includes information on mineral planning applications and mineral related matters in the South West. Production and reserves information has generally been supplied by industry but in some instances estimates may have been made by the MPAs. 1.2 Information is generally presented in a similar format to that used in previous annual reports in order to facilitate comparison of statistical data, but where necessary figures are combined or excluded to avoid disclosure of confidential information. Although longstanding confidentiality restrictions were lifted by the then Quarry Products Association (QPA) towards the end of 1999 to facilitate the publication of much more data than previously reported, clarification of the way in which operators’ information can be used has since been issued by the QPA’s successor, the Mineral Products Association. In addition, not all companies belong to the Mineral Products Association and therefore some information remains confidential. Moreover, some members of the Mineral Products Association insist that their information should be treated as confidential. Confidential information is therefore annotated accordingly. Wherever possible, time series information is presented to provide an indication of trends. 1.3 Membership of SWAWP is shown in Appendix 1 of the report. The Working Party is one of 9 Aggregate Working Parties (AWPs) in England and 2 in Wales whose membership is drawn from MPAs, the aggregates industry (represented by individual companies as well as the Mineral Products Association and the British Aggregates Association (BAA)), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Environment Agency and the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC). Whilst each of the MPAs is automatically a member of SWAWP and entitled to attend meetings, not all of them do so because of limited mineral interest, and, in such cases, arrangements have been made with other member authorities to represent them as necessary. 1.4 AWPs were established by the then Department of the Environment in the early 1970s to identify and consider likely problems in the supply of aggregate minerals. The work of the AWPs provides valuable