Supplementary memorandum from the Department
for Communities and Local Government
Following the evidence session at the select committee
yesterday I would like to clarify the position on which bodies
will deal with handling of minerals and waste planning. In the
middle of such a radical programme of planning reform this is
one area where the existing policy has not changed which no doubt
threw me! Planning for aggregate minerals extraction and most
waste facilities will continue to be dealt with by unitary and
top tier local planning authorities as now. Those waste facilities
which fall above the thresholds set out in the Planning Act 2008—essentially
hazardous waste facilities and "energy from waste" plants
generating 50MW or more—will move from the Infrastructure
Planning Commission to the new Major Infrastructure Planning Unit.
The minerals targets for aggregates will go when Regional Strategies
are abolished. This means that responsibility for continuing to
plan for a steady and adequate supply of aggregate minerals will
fall to unitary and top tier local authorities. We will be working
with the minerals industry and local government to agree how minerals
planning arrangements should operate in the longer term.
I think the confusion flowed from the fact that the
Local Growth White Paper contained a drafting error which gave
the impression that the Major Infrastructure Planning Unit would
take all this work. As soon as this error was spotted Vince Cable
made a written ministerial statement in the House on 4 November
to clarify the position (Column 37 WS). Correction slips were put
in hard copies of the White Paper, and the electronic version
has been updated.
Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP
Secretary of State for CLG
November 2010
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