Minerals Core Strategy
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The Minerals Core Strategy will set out the vision, objectives and spatial strategy for future mineral related development within Staffordshire. Notably, the Core Strategy will indicate the strategic sites for future mineral working over the next 15 to 20 years.
A short video has been produced to highlight the issues surrounding planning for minerals.
Latest news:May 2010 - current working programme updated on our Minerals and Waste Development Scheme page.
On 30 March 2010 the Government Office for the West Midlands confirmed they now expect planning authorities to ensure that their Development Plan Documents are sufficiently flexible to enable them to deliver the requirements for the provision of aggregates as set out in the Interim Policy Statement produced by the West Midlands Regional Assembly. The Interim Policy Statement is available on the WMRA archive website.
17 March 2010 - The Regional Assembly has decided to adopt a new approach to setting targets for the provision of aggregate minerals in the West Midlands. Consequently, Staffordshire will see its requirement for the provision of sand and gravel fall from 65% to 55% of the regional figure. This equates to a reduction of 10 million tonnes over the next 10 years.
7 January 2010 - A report on the options being considered by the Regional Assembly to review the way the provision of aggregate minerals is shared out was noted by Planning Committee - for details view the Planning Committee minutes (see Agenda item 6)
6 August 2009 - A report commenting on the latest review of regional minerals policies was approved by Planning Committee - for details view the Planning Committee minutes (see Agenda item 6)
August 2009 - current working programme updated on our Minerals and Waste Development Scheme page. 2 July 2009 - Strategy update report considered by Planning Committee - for details view the Planning Committee minutes (see Agenda item 10).
5 March 2009 - Strategy update report considered by Planning Committee - for details view the Planning Committee minutes (see Agenda item 87). 3 July 2008 - Report to Planning Committee to approve Issues and Options 2 for public consultation - for details view the Planning Committee minutes (see Agenda item 16)(and 'Background' below)
Consultation on Issues & Options 2 has now closed
This consultation provided an early opportunity for stakeholders including local communities to consider what needs to be addressed in a local strategy for minerals but in contrast to a previous consultation in 2005 (see below), there was an opportunity to comment on options for strategic sites proposed by the minerals industry and landowners. We will now be reviewing the feedback we have received and assessing the options prior to selecting preferred options later this year (refer to our Mineral and Waste Development Scheme page for the latest on the approved timetable for the Mineral Core Strategy).
If you wish to view the comments received in relation to the issues and options consultation please visit our consultation portal. To discuss any issues relating to the Mineral Core Strategy please use the contact details below.
How to stay up to dateIf you wish to be kept informed about progress of our Minerals Core Strategy please register with us via our new consultation portal.
Site Options for the Minerals Core Strategy
To view details of all strategic site options submitted by the minerals industry visit our Site Options for the Minerals Core Strategy page. The latest update report (see above) highlights that additional sites have been submitted and some of the earlier proposals for site options have been amended.
The Sustainability Appraisal, Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment of the Minerals Core Strategy
To ensure that the policies in the Minerals Core Strategy contribute to the achievement of sustainable development there is a legal requirement to carry out a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) incorporating a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The purpose of the SA process is to ensure that the principles of sustainable development are fully integrated into the emerging policies and proposals. To find out visit our SA page.
All site proposals will be subject to scoping for compliance with the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) - for more details visit our SFRA page. All sites will also need to be subject to an assessment in accordance with the EU Habitats Directive to determine whether or not there are any impacts on ecological sites of international importance - for more details visit our HRA page.
Developers submitting strategic site proposals should consider the advice available on our SA, SFRA and HRA pages.
Contact details
To discuss the Minerals Core Strategy contact:
Matt Griffin, Minerals Planning Policy Team Leader
Tel. 01785 277275
Email mat.griffin@staffordshire.gov.uk |
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Background to the Minerals Core Strategy
Issues and Options
Our document "Minerals Core Strategy - Issues and Options" was reported to Planning Committee in October 2005 and released for public consultation between 11 November and 23 December 2005. During this 6-week consultation period comments and views on this document were received.
Issues and Options - report (13 October 2005) (adobe pdf, 947kb)
Issues & Options document (adobe pdf, 836kb)
Issues & Options leaflet (adobe pdf, 139kb)
In April 2006 we published a report and schedule containing all the comments, including some proposals for future sites, received in response to the issues and options consultation document. Please view our summary report and schedule of comments page for more details.
In May 2007, Members of the Planning Committee approved a document to use for the purposes of public consultation on the selection of preferred options for a Minerals Core Strategy.
Preferred Options - Report to Planning Committee May 2007 (adobe pdf, 1.14mb)
Appendix A - The Preferred Options document (adobe pdf, 935kb)
Appendix B - The Sustainability Appraisal - non-technical summary (adobe pdf, 165kb)
However in July 2007, in response to advice received from the Government Office for the West Midlands (GOWM) and the Planning Inspectorate, a report to Planning Committee recommended that consultations on preferred options be deferred because the preferred options are not currently considered to be sufficiently spatial to provide a clear strategy which identifies "strategic sites" for future mineral production. The report also set out a revised programme to take the Minerals Core Strategy forward.
Update report to Planning Committee - July 2007 (adobe pdf, 33kb)
We circulated a draft background paper relating to the submission of strategic sites for comments to the minerals industry, landowners and other stakeholders ('developers') in August 2007.
Draft Background Paper - "Preparing to Invite Proposals to Identify Potential Strategic Sites for the Minerals Core Strategy" (July 2007) (adobe pdf, 1.58mb)
We sent out invitations to the minerals industry, landowners and other stakeholders ('developers') in September 2007.
As a guide to assist developers in submitting proposals a background paper was produced which explained the strategic production issues that needed to be addressed and the broad objectives that we are aiming to achieve through the Minerals Core Strategy. In addition, the paper provided a list of requirements for developers to consider when preparing proposals to be submitted for our assessment. The paper also explained that early identification of sites is essential if proposals are to be included in the Minerals Core Strategy because they will need to be thoroughly assessed through the process of sustainability appraisal and to provide the opportunity for stakeholders, including statutory consultees, the local communities and other interested parties to comment.
Guide to the submission of strategic site proposals (adobe pdf, 1.43mb)
We requested proposals for strategic sites to be submitted before 21 December 2007.
A report to the County Council's Planning Committee in February 2008 presented a list of the proposed site options. By July 2008 we had received details of 38 proposed sites, 24 were for sand and gravel, of which 14 were extensions to existing sites. There were 11 proposals for clay extraction, six of which are extensions. The other proposed sites included proposals for the extraction of coal by opencast methods (2), silica sandstone (2) and gypsum/anhydrite (1).
The Planning Committee report also explained that these site options would be used as a basis for re-consulting on issues and options for future mineral development.
Update report to Planning Committee - February 2008 (adobe pdf, 389kb)
Appendix 1 to Planning Committee report - updated May 2008 (adobe pdf, 63kb)
Submitted Site Proposals Plan - updated May 2008 (adobe pdf, 1.82mb)
Issues and Options 2
On 3 July 2008 the County Council's Planning Committee approved a document to be used for a second round of consultation on issues and options for the Minerals Core Strategy. This second round provided an opportunity for stakeholders including local communities to consider what needed to be addressed in a local strategy for minerals but in contrast to a previous consultation in 2005 (see above), there was also an opportunity to comment on options for strategic sites as proposed by the minerals industry and landowners.
The committee report is available below:
Minerals Core Strategy Issues and Options 2 - Report to Planning Committee - July 2008(adobe pdf, 30kb)
Minerals Core Strategy Issues and Options 2 - Committee Draft version July 2008(adobe pdf, 338kb)
Figure 2 Sand and Gravel quarries in Staffordshire 2008(adobe pdf, 653kb)
Figure 3 Limestone and Clay quarries in Staffordshire 2008(adobe pdf, 646kb)
Figure 4 Coalfields and Petroleum Exploration Licence areas in Staffordshire 2008(adobe pdf, 1.18mb)
Figure 5 Distribution of Plants and Factories in Staffordshire in 2008(adobe pdf, 619 kb)
Figure 7 Site Options - May 2008(adobe pdf, 825kb)
Figure 8 Staffordshire Minerals Core Strategy Key Diagram(adobe pdf, 834 kb)
Last Modified:
20/05/2010 11:43:52
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