Agenda item

Simon Jones (Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport), and

Sharon Thompson (Head of Planning Applications Group) were in attendance for this item

1.    Mr Murphy (Cabinet Member for Economic Development) and Ms Thompson, introduced the report. The County Council had a statutory responsibility to plan for future minerals supply and waste management within Kent. As a result, the Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2013-30 was adopted by County Council in July 2016 with some limited changes adopted in September 2020. The Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan contained planning policies relating to minerals supply and waste management against which the Council assessed planning applications for.

2.    Members were drawn to section 4.3 of the report in relation to the objection received on the Minerals Sites Plan work, in particular the nominated hard rock site at Oaken Wood, Aylesford. Clarification was provided that this had been submitted in response to the Council's ‘call for sites’ as part of the Sites Plan work. For the avoidance of doubt, the Kent Mineral and Waste Local Plan 2024-39 made no decision in relation to the Oaken Wood site. This was a matter for the separate Mineral Sites Plan work. Work on the review of this plan was ongoing and remained subject to detailed technical assessment of the submitted hard rock site. Until that assessment had been completed, no decision could be taken on whether the site should be allocated or not. A future report would be considered by the Growth, Economic Development and Communities Cabinet Committee. The Plan before Members for adoption provided the strategy for minerals supply, including the quantity of minerals required, not where sites to meet the need were to be allocated.

3.    Ms Thompson added that the current local plan was adopted in 2016 with a limited review in 2020 and no longer reflected up to date planning policy and guidance in a number of areas. The Plan set out the planning strategy for minerals and waste development in Kent and was the policy document for the determination of planning applications affecting mineral and waste management development and ensured planning applications were determined in accordance with the Local Plan. It was therefore important to have a local plan that was up to date to reflect local circumstances and which had been shaped by local requirements.

4.    There had been significant changes to planning and environmental policy over the last 10 years; the drivers for the changes were set out in paragraph 1.7.  These included:

·         Multiple changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)

·         Greater emphasis on climate change mitigation and protection and enhancement of the natural environment; 

·          A move towards a more circular economy with a stronger emphasis on the waste hierarchy

5.    The Plan had been subject to extensive public consultation as set out in paragraph 1.5 and these comments helped to shape and influenced the Plan. The work has also been the subject of a cross party Informal Members Group. The pre submission version of the Local Plan was considered by County Council in December 2023.

6.    The planning inspector considered this Plan, along with representations regarding legal compliance and soundness made in January to February 2024. The report was set out in appendix A and concluded that with the modifications set out in appendix 1 of the inspector’s report the Plan was sound and could be adopted.  Recommendations for modifications in the plan making process were common as these essentially responded to representations that had been made by interested parties. The nature of these were set out in paragraph 2.2 and did not change the principle of the strategy and policy direction of the Plan that Members had submitted for examination.

7.    The Council’s governance process required that the adoption of the Plan be a decision for County Council and that as part of that process, reports be considered by Cabinet and Cabinet Committee. The intention is for the adoption to be considered at the County Council meeting in March 2025.

8.    Members welcomed the Plan and thanked Mrs Thompson and her colleagues for their extensive work.

9.    RESOLVED that Cabinet agree to:

(a)  NOTE the Inspector’s Report (see Appendix A) on the examination of the Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2024-2039 (KWMLP);

(b)  NOTE the recommendations of the Sustainability Appraisal of the KMWLP (Appendix D); and,

(c)  ENDORSE the Cabinet Member’s proposal to recommend the KMWLP (Appendix B), as modified, to County Council for Approval and Adoption