Decision details

The Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2013-30 (KMWLP) was adopted by the County Council in July 2016. The adopted KMWLP includes the strategy and policy framework for minerals and waste development in Kent and sets out future capacity and supply requirements. The KMWLP commits the Council to preparing ‘Sites Plans’ which allocate land suitable for minerals and waste development.

Mineral Sites Plan

The Mineral Sites Plan will allocate sites in Kent for the types of minerals development needed to fulfil the vision and objectives of the KMWLP

Early Partial Review of the KMWLP

The adopted KMWLP identified a shortfall in waste management capacity over the Plan period to be met, in part, by development on sites allocated in a Waste Sites Plan. Work on the Waste Sites Plan included a reassessment of waste management requirements which suggests that the identification of sites within a separate Waste Sites Plan is no longer justified. One of the main reasons for the change in position is that additional significant waste recovery capacity is now under construction at Kemsley Sustainable Energy Plant which was previously discounted from the original assessment of capacity requirements. To regularise the position, modifications to the KMWLP are now required.

Minerals and Waste Safeguarding

Implementation of the KMWLP has revealed a significant ambiguity within policies which is having a detrimental impact on the ability of the KMWLP to safeguard mineral resources and minerals and waste management infrastructure. As part of the Partial Review it is therefore proposed to seek modifications to rectify this issue.

Revised Local Development Scheme

The Local Development Scheme sets out the Council’s programme for preparing minerals and waste planning documents and the most recent version was adopted in December 2016. The current scheme expects a Waste Sites Plan to be prepared and did not anticipate the Partial Review mentioned above and so needs to be revised.

As Deputy Leader with delegated authority for Minerals and Waste Local Plan Matters, I agree:

      i.        to undertake public consultation on the ‘Minerals Sites Plan – Options 2017’ document and associated Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report in line with Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012;

    ii.        to undertake a Partial Review of the Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2013-30 concerning future requirements for waste management and mineral and waste safeguarding;

   iii.        to undertake associated public consultation on the Partial Review document and the associated Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report; and

   iv.        to note the contents of an updated Local Development Scheme (including revised timetable) to reflect the Partial Review and changes to the programme and timetable concerning preparation of the Sites Plan.