Minerals and waste

Vision

National Planning Policy, set through the NPPF and the National Planning Policy for Waste Policy Paper, sets out a series of requirements to ensure that suitable provision is made for minerals and waste through Local Plans. It recognises that it is essential that there is a sufficient supply of minerals to provide the infrastructure, buildings, energy and goods that the country needs, and that best use needs to be made of them to secure their long-term conservation. Similarly, it acknowledges that positive planning plays a pivotal role in delivering the country's waste ambitions and moving towards a more sustainable and efficient approach to resource use and management. The PPG builds on this with further detailed guidance that needs to be taken into account through the plan-making and decision-taking process. 

Leeds City Council, as a unitary authority, is responsible for planning for Minerals and Waste development across the District. At the local level, the Best City Ambition sets the overall vision for the future of Leeds, focussed on improving outcomes across the 3 Pillars of health and wellbeing, inclusive growth and zero carbon. Minerals and waste planning has an important role to play as part of this, ensuring;

1. Health and wellbeing; ensuring waste is appropriately managed to support good health and wellbeing for all parts of the city.
2. Inclusive growth; ensuring there is sufficient supply of minerals to support growth, supporting the job opportunities within the minerals and waste sectors and recognising the importance of a skilled workforce.
3. Zero carbon; supporting the transition to the low carbon economy, driving waste management up the waste hierarchy to promote more sustainable use of resources and supporting the sustainable movement of minerals and waste products.

Current issues

The adopted Natural Resources and Waste Local Plan contains a series of policies related to planning for minerals and waste. The approach of the majority of its policies is up-to-date and consistent with national policy and local priorities. However, there are some areas where there may be a need to review the policy approach. For example;

• The Government has indicated its intention to support shale gas extraction ('fracking') and to amended national policy accordingly. The adopted NRWLP has no minerals safeguarding area (MSA) for unconventional hydrocarbons and no policy on how we would deal with an application. This means that we would need to rely on national policy to determine any application to explore or extract this resource;
• The adopted NRWLP has no buffer zones for mineral processing activities. In some instances there has been conflict between residential applications and mineral processing activities, which buffer zones would help to manage. Likewise, buffer zones could be useful in considering proposals in close proximity to existing safeguarded railway sidings and canal wharves.
• The landbank for sand and gravel has fallen below the level recommended in the NPPF. There is a need for Leeds to identify ways to address this so as to maintain an adequate supply of minerals.
• The NRWLP forecasts waste arising till 2026. There is a need to look ahead at needs over the period 2022-40, based on up-to-date evidence and collaborative working with other West Yorkshire authorities.
• Some safeguarded sites have gone and new ones have been brought to our attention so we need to take stock of the current provision and identify the capacity gap.
• Some new needs have arisen since the NRWLP was prepared, such as for composting waste and glass recycling.

What might new policy do to address this?

LLP 2040 will need to review the current supply of minerals and waste sites, and forecast future needs over the period 2022-40. This may involve the allocation and/or safeguarding of new sites to provide this, as well as a review of existing sites to ensure these remain fit-for-purpose and are likely to be delivered (with sites being de-allocated or released from safeguarding where this is not the case)

As part of this, a new Minerals Safeguarding Area may need to be identified for unconventional hydrocarbons. Consideration will need to be made of what area this should cover, and how it relates to the extent of currently licensed areas and the wider shale gas resource. An associated planning policy for determining any applications for shale gas exploration, appraisal and production in Leeds will also need to be prepared.

Buffer zones for mineral processing activities need to be formally created and an associated policy (to avoid conflict with residential permissions). These could potentially be designated through a new policy or an addition to existing Policy MINERALS 12. The buffers will show the extent of the agent of change principle to ensure this is taken into account through the planning process.

What do we need to get there?

New evidence on the needs for minerals extraction in Leeds over the plan period will need to be developed. The recent WYCA Marine Aggregate Report may help to quantify how much need can be met by marine aggregate, and what will need to be met through land-based resources.   As part of this, we will need to agree with the other West Yorkshire authorities how we will work together to meet the need for a steady and adequate supply of mineral resources across the region.

There will also be a need to estimate the forecasted waste arisings for the plan period across different waste streams. This can use evidence provided by the Environment Agency Waste Data Interrogator, and will need to consider what technologies might be used and the land need of those so we can work out whether we have sufficient sites to manage the forecasted waste arising for the plan period. As part of this, there will be a need to consult with other authorities to identify tonnages of cross boundary movements and provision in other areas, particularly for waste that goes to landfill.

A review of existing allocations and/or safeguarded land for both minerals and waste uses will need to be undertaken, to established where they remain suitable, available and deliverable to meet future needs. A 'call for sites' process will be required to identify any new options for consideration as future allocations and/or safeguarding.

In relation to shale gas, there will be a particular need to monitor any updates to National Policy and review wider best practice in determining how the Minerals Safeguarding Area should be defined, and the criteria applied through any associated planning policies.

Have your say

The consultation runs for 6 weeks from Friday 10 February until Friday 24 March 2023.