Need for Policies

The mineral and waste planning authorities of Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth City Council, Southampton City Council and the New Forest National Park Authority are jointly planning the policies to manage mineral and waste processing.

Minerals have been historically linked to waste management due to the widespread use of old quarries as obvious locations for landfill. With the increased environmental awareness and governmental requirement to 'divert waste from landfill' their are more and more activities that require their waste to be processed. Examples of this are recycling, composting or thermal treatment of waste to generate electricity and/or heat. Hampshire is leading the way in this area by deriving guidance from the Material Resources Strategy which aims to maximise resource efficiency and minimise waste.

The extraction of land-won minerals such as sand, gravel, clay, oil and gas is necessary to construct and power homes, workplaces and roads. The processes involved have environmental, social and economic impacts. After the mineral is removed, the restoration of the land may involve a return to its previous use, such as grazing land (for livestock) or forestry, or recreational uses such as the creation of public open spaces with paths or areas of water for wildlife and/or watersports. These restoration 'conditions' are important in any planning application that is approved.

The processing of waste either generated locally or brought into the area for processing is an economic opportunity. This is another area where planning is important to ensure there are enough facilities to handle all the waste and materials generated and that this is carried out in a safe environment which does not cause harm to people or wildlife.

Both the European Parliament and the UK Government issue directives or pass Acts of Law which regulate and define how the mineral and waste planning authorities create their policies, and regionally in the South East, the planning authorities also are required to meet a mineral apportionment that is decided by the South East England Regional Assembly.

Locally, in Hampshire, any development plan and its policies need to integrate with the Local Transport Plan (LTP). The selection of potential mineral and waste sites should take into account which roads in the County are most suited to carrying the lorry traffic that services many minerals and waste sites.

Further information on binding laws, regulation and guidance can be found by following the links on the right.