Issue - meetings

To consider and endorse, or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport on the proposed decision to endorse the Kent Minerals and Waste Safeguarding Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for public consultation

(Mrs S Thompson, Head of Planning Applications, and Mr B Geake, Principal Planning Officer, Policy, attended the meeting for this item).

1.         Mrs Thompson introduced the report which informed the Committee that following the adoption of the Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2013-30 (MWLP), a draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), set out at Appendix B of the report, had been produced regarding minerals and waste safeguarding.

2.         Mrs Thompson and Mr Geake responded to the questions and comments made by Members, and made points including the following:

(a)  The strategy and policies had already been agreed in the adopted Kent MWLP and were not changed as a result of the SPD.  The SPD sets out how the policies are to be implemented.. A number of mineral safeguarding exemptions were proposed in the Kent MWLP including where a developer had secured an allocation in an adopted borough council local plan. .  However, for emerging allocations in a local plan, there was a requirement to satisfy the safeguarding requirements of the NPPF and the Kent MWLP. 

(b)  The SPD was prepared to address concerns by the borough councils who attended the Examination into the MWLP, that they lacked expertise to discharge their obligations regarding safeguarding. The County Council would be consulted on planning applications affecting safeguarding matters.  Where it was not persuaded that an application met the policy requirements then it could raise an objection.

3.         RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport to endorse the Kent Minerals and Waste Safeguarding Supplementary Planning Document for public consultation, be endorsed.