Question
Looking at the time scale for progressing the Minerals and Waste Plan and the Local Plan can one explain why when minerals are required to build houses that the timing would appear to be back to front? By that I mean you need sand and gravel to build houses so one needs to know the number of houses being planned to determine that amount of sand and gravel needed or are there other reasons?
Minutes:
Looking at the time scale for progressing the Minerals and Waste Plan and the Local Plan can one explain why when minerals are required to build houses that the timing would appear to be back to front. By that I mean you need sand and gravel to build houses so one needs to know the number of houses being planned to determine that amount of sand and gravel needed or are there other reasons?
Answer:
National policy and guidance sets out the importance of the plan-led system to ensure there is certainty and clarity on future development. The existing Berkshire Minerals Plan dates from 2001 and the Waste Plan from 1998. Both plans are therefore in need of review.
Wokingham Borough Council, Bracknell Forest Council, Reading Borough Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are working together to produce a Joint Minerals and Waste Plan. On adoption, this will replace the existing plans, ensuring an up-to-date policy and thereby greater certainty as to where development is directed, and where it is not.
The Joint Minerals and Waste Plan is being prepared at the same time that the Berkshire local authorities are having to update and extend their existing Core Strategy Local Plans due to changes in national planning policy and guidance.
If we are to provide a complete set of up-to-date planning policies, which provide the greatest level of transparency for residents and certainty for decision-making, both the Minerals and Waste Plan and the Local Plan must be updated on overlapping timeframes.
Turning to the link between the plans. Whilst it is desirable that minerals are extracted and used within the same general area, it is generally not possible to achieve this on a very localised scale. Whilst some minerals extracted in the Borough will be used here, minerals will also be used to support development across Reading, Bracknell and Windsor and Maidenhead and probably further afield. Similarly, some minerals extracted elsewhere will be used for development within the Borough.
Regardless of whether a Local Plan or Minerals and Waste Plan is progressed, sites for housing, mineral extraction and other uses will continue to come forward and will need to be assessed.
Supplementary Question:
The Minerals and Waste, although it has been a long time since there was a plan, the Minerals and Waste existing plan shows minerals as a 7 year surplus, so I thought I did not see any particular rush to get this passed in 2019. It was interesting that the housing and the minerals and waste were both going to public inquiries in 2019, and for reasons best known to themselves, when the housing numbers are pretty much in place, the minerals and waste stays where it is, but the housing has been moved to 2021. I just wondered if that is because it is a fallow year when there is no election?
Supplementary Answer:
Well, the answer is no. They are being progressed. It is early stages with the Minerals and Waste Plan. The first stage of public consultation is being carried out. There will be more consultation. Nothing is certain as yet and there is a lot more to do, so there might be changes to the timescales.