Hampshire County Council Cabinet 23 June 2008 County Council 10 July 2008 Approval for the Hampshire Minerals Plan Report of the Director of Environment

Item 8

Contact: Adrian Flavell, ext 6730 email: adrian.flavell@hants.gov.uk

1. Summary

1.1 This report sets out the background to the process for developing and preparing the Hampshire Minerals Plan and summarises its key components. The report also addresses issues arising from recent consultations from Government on ` National and Regional Guidelines for Aggregates 2006-2020' and the South East England Regional Assembly (the Assembly) on the apportionment of aggregates within the South East.

1.2 The Hampshire Minerals Plan will build on the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Core Strategy (adopted 2007), which sets out general policies and broad locations for the development of quarries and mineral sites. The Hampshire Minerals Plan is more specific and identifies:

(i) `Mineral Areas' within which further extraction of sand and gravel can take place to enable 1.82 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to be produced;

(ii) Mineral Areas for clay extraction for local brickworks;

(iii) policies for exploitation of oil and gas reserves and chalk extraction;

(iv) strategic sites for aggregate recycling;

(v) wharves and depots to tranship these materials;

(vi) sites for landfill associated as an after use of some old, current and future mineral voids;

(vii) `Mineral Safeguarding Areas' and safeguarded sites; and

(viii) further clarifying policies where appropriate.

The Plan will also outlines the policy context in which it operates, the site allocation process, the site appraisal methodology and a monitoring and implementation scheme.

1.3 A summary of the assessments of potential sites and areas for the Hampshire Minerals Plan as concluded from the Appraisals are attached to this report as an appendix. The supporting evidence for the Plan, including the Appraisals documents, a report on the recent consultation on the Plan and other background papers, have been placed in the Members' Rooms and can be found on the web.

1.4 On approval of the Plan by the Council and its partners, the document will be published and placed on deposit for a minimum of 6 weeks in September/October 2008. This is to gather representations on the "soundness" of the Plan (that is whether it is considered to be justified, effective and consistent with national and regional policy), in accordance with the revised Regulations which will come into force on 27 June 2008. At the conclusion of the representations period a summary must be produced of the main issues raised by the representations. The Plan will then be submitted to the Secretary of State, who will appoint a Planning Inspector to undertake an independent examination, including a hearing, into the Plan's soundness. The Inspector will then report back to the Councils and the National Park Authority with conclusions and binding recommendations on the final form of the Plan to be adopted.

1.5 The Minerals Plan sets out areas and sites for future minerals and landfill development in Hampshire to 2020. Each proposal will be described and shown on the accompanying Proposals Map, which includes detailed inset maps showing the proposal locations and relevant constraints.

1.6 The Hampshire Minerals Plan is an important component of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework. It develops proposals to supply the minerals that Hampshire needs over the plan period to 2020, to support housing development and deliver other key infrastructure requirements to maintain its prosperity. It supports the Sustainable Community Strategy and Corporate Business Plan outcome 1.7.

2. Recommendations

2.1 (i) That the Cabinet recommends to the County Council that the Hampshire Minerals Plan:

(a) shall provide for 1.82 million tonnes per annum of sand and gravel;

(b) be approved for publication, consultation on its soundness and subsequent submission to the Secretary of State in accordance with Regulations 27-30 of The Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2008; and

(c) be adopted by the County Council as an interim framework for the operation of planning control until this Plan is superseded.

(ii) That the County Council be further recommended to authorise the Director of Environment, in consultation with the Executive Member for Environment, to finalise the Hampshire Minerals Plan prior to submission and supporting documents, provided that these do not materially change the overall direction, shape and emphasis of the document, and do not raise any significant new issues.

(iii) That the Cabinet delegate authority to the Leader of the County Council to finalise the consultation responses to the following documents in line with proposals set out in this report:

(a) Government consultation on the `Draft Revised National and Regional Guidelines for Aggregates in England: 2005-2020'; and

(b) the South East England Regional Assembly consultation on the `Review of Sub-Regional Allocation of Land-Won Aggregates'.

3. Background

3.1 The County Council, together with Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils and the New Forest National Park Authority ("the authorities") are the planning authorities with a responsibility to plan for minerals and waste developments in the Hampshire area. The authorities agreed to work together to produce a joint development framework for Minerals and Waste in 2005. The Core Strategy document was formally adopted by the Authorities in September 2007, which largely superseded the previous local plan, the Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan (Adopted 1998).

3.2 However, the Core Strategy does not make provision for specific sites, which are to be addressed through the preparation of a joint Minerals Plan and a joint Waste Plan. Therefore, until these plans have been adopted, the site allocation policies of the Local Plan will continue in force. In respect of Minerals policies 19, 21, 38 and 43 (relating to specific sites and safeguarding) will continue to form part of the planning policy framework pending the adoption of the Hampshire Minerals Plan.

3.3 The primary function of the Hampshire Minerals Plan is to identify sites to facilitate the delivery of the Core Strategy requirements. Accordingly the Core Strategy set out the process for site selection as part of the Sustainability Appraisal to which all planning documents are now subjected. It should be noted, however, that the proposed approach in the Minerals Plan sets out to identify a lower supply target for sand and gravel of 1.82 million tonnes per annum, based on technical, environmental and demand/supply reasons. This approach is further explained below.

4. Consultation

4.1 An integral part of the preparation of the Minerals Plan is the involvement of stakeholders. The authorities have, during the last two years, carried out extensive stakeholder involvement with various public, business and environmental interests over a long list of potential sites. In accordance with the `Statement of Community Involvement' (adopted 1996) this included a number of local meetings and the publication and discussion of potential locations for quarries, landfills and aggregate recycling sites.

4.2 Just under 7,000 representations were received in response to this exercise of which approximately 4,000 related to sand and gravel proposals at Roeshot Hill and Walkford and Beckley Farms. However, the majority of responses were generic in nature, identifying concerns about transport (congestion, road safety and impact from heavy goods vehicles - HGVs), natural environment (impact on habitats, wildlife and landscape), amenity (concerns about noise, dust, vermin and potential impact on health) and to a slightly lesser extent impact on property (proximity to residential areas, effect on property prices and damage from vibration).

4.3 These generic concerns are addressed by the Sustainability Appraisal process - described below - which includes the 17 environmental and sustainability factors set out in the Core Strategy.

4.4 On 24 September 2007 the County Council approved the Consultation Hampshire Minerals Plan under "Regulation 26" of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004. The Consultation Plan asked for comments on specific sites and nearly 14,000 representations were received from about 5,000 respondents. Particular areas highlighted in the response included Hamble, Warsash and New Milton, which together generated well over two-thirds of the total representations.

4.5 Apart from the site specific representations, which are addressed in the summary site assessments in the Appendix, the following table summarises the general comments that were made and the authorities' response to them:

Issue	Comment	Response
Hampshire's apportionment and the demand for minerals in relationship to environmental constraints within the County	The apportionment is wrongly based on too high a level of demand. Demand for land won minerals is falling. More account should be taken of the environmental constraints within the County	This issue has been fully considered in the development of the proposed Submission Plan and is detailed in section 5 of this report.
Marine dredged minerals	Sea won material should be used in favour of land won material.	The regional apportionment process assumes an element of sea won material and its supply is neither inexhaustible or without its own environmental impact, but see above also.
Traffic concerns	Concern at the impact of traffic, particularly heavy goods vehicles and associated emissions and increased congestion.	A strategic traffic impact assessment has been prepared in respect of each area and the cumulative impacts of areas in close proximity local area. The generated traffic is generally a low percentage increase on the traffic already on local roads. More detailed assessment of traffic impacts will be required at the planning application stage. Conditions and / or legal agreements related to permissions can help mitigate impacts.
The regulation 26 consultation process	Consultation process over complex, technical and flawed. It did not "consult", but merely advised of the plan process and proposals and invited comments.	The consultation was the third stage in a wider process in the preparation of the Hampshire Minerals & Waste Development Framework which involved an extensive programme of workshops and public engagement. The process for consultation on a statutory plan is prescribed by regulation, but the point about complexity is noted and the submission plan will aim to be easily understood.
Proposals Maps	Maps and notation need to be clearer.	Noted, the submission plan will aim to include clearer maps.
Plan flexibility	The authorities need to ensure flexibility in implementing the plan. The landbank of sites should be monitored continuously through the Annual Monitoring Report.	The authorities aim to achieve this and proposals for monitoring and implementing the Plan will be clearly set out in the submission document.
Site selection process	Site selection is influenced too much in favour of established mineral extraction operators rather than environmental and local impact issues.	Site selection has been in accordance with the relevant guidance, including Minerals Policy Statement 1, Planning Policy Statement 12 and principles set out in the Core Strategy . The process has to ensure that the site is likely to be worked and that the plan is deliverable.
Protection of designated environmental / habitat areas	Support proposed buffer zones around designated environment / habitat sites, but should be greater or determined on merits.	The specific buffer zone relates to the area included in the Mineral Resource Area. This is not necessarily the boundary of a proposed Mineral Area or its working area. These will be determined on a site by site basis on the evidence base/assessments carried out.
Hydrological issues	Concern at potential impact of workings on rivers, groundwater aquifers and impacts for flood areas and environmental habitats	The Sustainability Appraisal process has included a preliminary assessment of hydrological issues and more detail would be required at the planning application stage to ensure that any impacts are fully assessed and dealt with.

Issue	Comment	Response
The Mineral Resource and Safeguarding Areas	The Mineral Resource Area (MRA) is unnecessarily restrictive and all applications should be considered on merits against plan policy. The Mineral Safeguarding Area (MSA) in urban areas could constrain urban regeneration and renewal, and impact adversely local amenities.	The MRA was designed primarily to illustrate where the authorities expected the preferred mineral areas to be located in order to give some degree of public certainty during the plan making process. The MSA is designed to ensure that proven mineral reserves are not sterilised by non mineral development in accordance with Minerals Policy Statement 1. This may include prior extraction where appropriate.

5. Post Consultation Developments

5.1 Following the completion of the Regulation 26 consultation referred to above, three matters have arisen that need to be taken into account by the Minerals Plan.

5.2 Firstly, the most recent data on aggregate sales from land-won sources in Hampshire has confirmed a downward trend, despite historically high levels of construction locally. This is illustrated in the following table, which shows 2006 aggregate production as less than half that of the 2.63 mtpa set out in the Core Strategy.

Year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
'000 tonnes	2431	2704	2559	2410	2293	2193	1808	1668	1584	1244

Source: Hampshire Minerals and Waste Annual Monitoring Report 2007

This is despite the record number of housing completions in Hampshire as shown in the table below.

	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	Total
Net Dwellings completed	5,600	6,762	7,618	7,006	7,353	34,339

5.3 Secondly, the Government has launched a consultation on the `Draft Revised National and Regional Guidelines for Aggregates in England: 2005-2020' which proposes that, that for the South East region as a whole, the requirement to produce sand and gravel should be reduced by approximately 8%. This would reduce the current South East regional figure from 13.25 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 12.2 mtpa. On a pro-rata basis this would reduce the Hampshire `apportionment' or allocation to 2.4 mtpa. However, the Regional Planning Body is making representations that the 8% reduction does not reflect the long term disparity between previous guidelines and actual production and is recommending that Government should make a corresponding reduction.

5.4 The reasoning behind the Assembly's argument over the South East as a whole applies equally well to Hampshire as illustrated by the figures in the table above. As well as being a material factor in shaping the Minerals Plan approach to the sustainable level of sand and gravel production to be planned for, it is recommended that this approach should also form the basis of the County Council's response to the Government Consultation.

5.5 Thirdly, the Assembly has also consulted on a `Review of Sub-Regional Allocation of Land-Won Aggregates'. This proposes a number of different options for dividing the regional sand and gravel requirements between the eight County areas, based on different scenarios weighted by a variety of factors such as environmental designations and population. The options for Hampshire range between 1.82 and 2.32 mtpa. The lower figure, which is known as the `Environmental' option, more accurately reflects how the sand and gravel resource is constrained in Hampshire, and is considered to be a more realistic and sustainable level for sand and gravel production on this basis.

5.6 The County Council is in the process of publicising the impacts of the various options on Hampshire and is asking for stakeholders not only to respond to the Assembly consultation but also advise the Council of their views. Early indications and the Sustainability Appraisal and other assessments of the Minerals Plan shows that that only the Environmental option is sustainable in the long run.

5.7 Mineral resources are particularly constrained in Hampshire for the following reasons:

(i) National and International Designations. The Assembly consultation includes a map illustrating how the south east mineral resources are affected by various nature conservation and landscape designations which inhibit their exploitation. These maps show this issue is particularly acute in Hampshire. Moreover, the majority of the proposals contained in the Consultation Minerals Plan are affected by these designations.

(ii) Local Constraints. A large part of the mineral resource in Hampshire is of limited value. The deposits in the Itchen and Test are `thin' and/or physically inaccessible or have ownership restrictions. On the other hand the other resources if exploited would invariably affect sensitive receptors, particularly in the southern part of the county.

(iii) Economic. The more recent sales of sand and gravel, as illustrated in the table above show a distinct declining trend in production despite the period being one when house building and construction has been above average.

5.8 In the light of this it would make little sense to plan for a supply of sand and gravel at a rate of more than 1.82 mtpa. This is the only long term sustainable approach in environmental, economic and practical terms. Moreover the targets for the sub areas of Hampshire for supply of sand and gravel should be correspondingly reduced as follows:

North East Hampshire 0.30 mtpa
Downland 0.45 mtpa
South Hampshire 0.27 mtpa

Forest 0.80 mtpa

5.9 It is therefore considered that, subject to the overall views expressed by the public and stakeholders during the consultation, this should form the basis of the County Council's response to the Assembly consultation document.

5.10 Notwithstanding these constraints, there is still a need to maintain a supply of sand and gravel for development. The housing needs for South Hampshire as required by Policy SH12 of the South East Plan¹ (80,000 new homes by 2026, economic growth at 3% per annum and supporting infrastructure development) will need to be met. While the import of marine dredged gravel through the wharves is well located to serve development in South Hampshire and the southern part of Downland, land-won sources in South Hampshire remain an important part of the supply.

6. Sustainability and Other Appraisal

6.1 A robust site selection process has been developed to select areas and sites for development. The process included evaluation of some 110 potential areas and sites using 17 environmental and sustainability factors to identify the `least worst' sites in terms of overall impacts. The majority of potential sites have been effectively eliminated by this process, through the identification of significant impacts which are not capable of adequate mitigation. The factors included archaeology, heritage assets, landscape and existing land use. In addition the Sustainability Appraisal includes Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment which are required by EU Directives and Strategic Flood Risk Assessment. The latter is required by national planning guidance. Finally a critical feature of the Sustainability Appraisal is strategic and local traffic impact assessments.

6.2 The process has been informed by technical and statutory consultees, and individual public responses, which have given appropriate weighting to certain criteria like traffic. The process was used to `thin' a long list of potential sites into the better performing options, including some alternatives that figured in the consultation Mineral Plan.

7. The Hampshire Minerals Plan

7.1 The Plan will provide for the supply of minerals and where appropriate the restoration of the affected land to beneficial after uses in accordance with general planning objectives for the area.

7.2 The principal minerals concerned are aggregates for the construction industry and are sourced from sharp sand and gravel and soft sand deposits, imports of rock, principally imported from Somerset and marine dredged material and recycled and secondary aggregates. The other minerals that are commercially exploited in Hampshire are chalk, clay and oil and gas. To provide for a sustainable long term supply of these minerals the Plan proposes some new mineral areas and sites supported by some policies.

8. Land-won sand and gravel

8.1 The Appraisals conclude that Hampshire can, over the period to 2020, provide for 1.82 mtpa of sand and gravel. With regard to the sub areas of Hampshire the annual supply would be:

North East Hampshire 0.30 mtpa
Downland 0.45 mtpa
South Hampshire 0.27 mtpa
Forest 0.80 mtpa

8.2 This supply would be from existing sites with permission and a number of proposed `mineral areas' within which sand and gravel will be extracted with appropriate mitigation measures - and ancillary plant and uses developed. The mineral areas that the Sustainability Appraisal concludes are acceptable and proposed for inclusion in the Plan are:

North East Hampshire: Eversley Common Quarry Extension

Mortimer Quarry Extension

Downland: Cutty Brow, Longparish

Frith End Quarry Extension, Sleaford

Kingsley Quarry Extension, Kingsley

South Hampshire: Hamble Airfield

Forest Lodge Farm, Hythe

Forest: Roeshot Hill, Walkford

Plumley Wood, Harbridge

Purple Haze, Ringwood

More details concerning the above are included in the appendix.

8.3 Additional proposals were submitted as part of the response to the Consultation Mineral Plan but neither of these is acceptable:

North of Portsmouth Road, Old Netley (South Hampshire) - unviable resource and uncertainty of deliverability.

Dunwood Nurseries, Sherfield English (Downlands) - access issues and cumulative adverse traffic impacts.

8.4 There were a number of proposed mineral areas in the Consultation Minerals Plan which have been rejected:

Daedalus Airfield, Lee-on-the-Solent (South Hampshire) - unviable resource.

Eversley Quarry Extension (North East Hampshire) - landowner withdrew.

Malthouse and Osbourne Farms (Downland) - various appraisal issues (existing land-use and cumulative traffic impact) and uncertainty of delivery through ownership issues.

Roke Quarry Extension, Shootash (Downland) - various appraisal issues and cumulative impact.

Pickwell Farm, Old Netley (South Hampshire) - various appraisal issues (access and traffic impact).

8.5 The following proposals that were included as alternatives to other areas have been rejected:

Bordon/Whitehill Opportunity (Downland) - uncertainty over Eco-Town programme and release of resource to be examined when the District Council finalise their plans - preference for Kingsley Quarry Extension.

Chilling and Brownwich Farms, Warsash (South Hampshire) - appraisal issues (protection of existing uses - agriculture/recreation, strategic undeveloped and open coastal landscape) - preference for Hamble Airfield and Forest Lodge Farm.

Downton, Milford and Ashley Manor Farm (Forest) - appraisal issues (landscape, impact on amenity and business) - no preference for either alternative as supply can be met from other proposed mineral areas.

9. Landfill

9.1 The Core Strategy proposes that up to 5.3 million tonnes of non-hazardous waste and up to 18.5 tonnes of non-recyclable inert waste need to be accommodated during the Plan period. The inert waste will all be used to restore mineral working or in civil engineering or other infrastructure projects. The focus of the Minerals Plan is therefore to provide void space for the non-hazardous waste. The Hampshire Waste Plan will deal with the majority of policies and proposals for waste, but landfill is included in the Minerals Plan because of its traditional association with mineral working void as an after use prior to final restoration. No landfill is proposed for the proposed mineral areas in the Minerals Plan. Three existing sites currently with permission for non-hazardous waste, at Blue Haze, Squabb Wood and Pound Bottom, have currently permitted capacity for 3.65 million tones of waste, and it is considered that they could accommodate an additional 0.8 million tonnes. The landfill at Bunny Lane, Romsey already has a restricted planning permission for inert landfill, but is considered suitable for landfill of non-hazardous waste, so can provide an additional 1 million tonnes capacity.

9.2 For the period to 2020, landfill capacity will be provided by existing capacity and additional facilities at:

Blue Haze, Ringwood - surcharging of permitted levels on part of the site.

Squabb Wood, Romsey - surcharging of permitted levels on part of the site.

Bunny Lane Romsey - re-engineering of permitted capacity to take non-hazardous waste.

Pound Bottom, Redlynch - completion of landfilling and restoration of existing site.

9.3 Alternative proposals have been excluded by the appraisal process for a number of reasons, including risk to groundwater, cumulative impact and requirements being met.

10. Strategic Recycling Sites

10.1 The Core Strategy proposes that production capacity will be provided for the supply of recycled and secondary aggregate at a rate of 1.7 million tonnes a year including the reprocessing of 100,000 tonnes per year of incinerator bottom ash. Hampshire currently has over 30 sites which separate out reusable construction, demolition and excavation wastes. Of these, 25 have planning permission for the production of recycled and secondary aggregates with a total capacity of 2.1 million tonnes a year, including ten strategic sites that each handle over 75,000 tonnes a year and have either a permanent or long term planning permission.

10.2 Recycled and secondary aggregates will be provided predominantly by existing `strategic' sites with planning permission and the following additional site:

Alton Wastewater Treatment Works, Alton - adjacent land.

11. Wharves and Rail Depots

11.1 The Core Strategy identifies the need to increase the level of sustainable transport of minerals and waste as a key part of the strategy. There is a commitment to make provision for rail depots, sidings and marine wharves to receive and tranship aggregates, recyclables and waste by rail and sea where possible. There are currently nine operational aggregate wharves in Hampshire and three operational rail depots and all are currently safeguarded by Policy 14 of the Core Strategy. The operational wharves have a capacity of up to three million tonnes per year which is sufficient to meet requirements. Capacity at marine wharves will be provided predominantly by the following existing operational sites with planning permission:

Fareham Upper Quay Wharf

Bedhampton Wharf

Kendalls Wharf, Portsmouth

Leamouth Wharf, Southampton

Supermarine Wharf, Southampton

Marchwood Wharf

Bakers Wharf , Southampton

Burnley Wharf, Southampton

Dibles Wharf, Southampton

11.2 Representations have been made that a deep water berthing capacity be proposed at Dibden Bay for the importation of rock from Scotland and elsewhere. The appraisals have rejected this proposal. However, there is sufficient capacity at the Hampshire rail depots and in the hard rock quarries in Somerset to meet current needs and any reasonable expectations of increase. Moreover some rock, albeit not by large bulk carrier can be delivered at some of the marine gravel wharves. Also the large bulk trade could be accommodated in Southampton Docks although currently there is no commercial imperative to do so. Finally, there are facilities elsewhere in the region other than South Hampshire that can import rock by bulk carrier if the regional needs so dictate.

11.3 Capacity at rail aggregate depots will be provided at the following existing and proposed rail depots:

Existing depots:

Botley Station Aggregates Rail Depot

Eastleigh Aggregates Rail Depot

Fareham Station Aggregates Rail Depot

and a new site at :

Basingstoke Station.

12. Other Minerals

12.1 Other minerals referred to in the core strategy include chalk, clay, and oil and gas.

Chalk

12.2 There are ten permitted chalk quarries in Hampshire, although only two of these are currently active, supplying approximately 20,000 tonnes per year. Chalk is primarily for agricultural use and the demand for it is unlikely to change in the near future. A number of chalk quarries have planning permission up to 2042; these may not be suitable for further extraction because of environmental or traffic constraints, or adverse impact on nearby properties.

12.3 Chalk will be provided from the two existing operational chalk quarries:

Manor Farm Chalk Pit, Monk Sherborne

Somborne Chalk Quarry.

Clay

12.4 There are two brickworks in Hampshire, Selborne and Michelmersh and both require on site clay resources. At Michelmersh the existing resource is sufficient for about eight years. The Consultation Plan identified three `areas of search' in the vicinity of the brickworks. It is proposed that one of these - to the north-west of the works be identified as a proposed mineral area. The other two are rejected because of proximity to the village and unproven resources and land ownership issues.

12.5 At Selborne a large permission for clay extraction has lapsed and at the time of the Consultation Plan the brickworks was out of commission. It has now re-commenced production and needs a clay source in the near future. It is proposed that the Plan identifies part of the erstwhile permission area for clay extraction but requires the restoration traffic to use an alternative access which has less traffic impact on the local community.

Oil and Gas

12.6 Oil and gas have been discovered in commercial quantities in three locations in Hampshire: Humbly Grove, Stockbridge and Horndean, and there are 15 separate operational oil and gas sites linked to the oilfields. Exploration and production has not historically been permitted within the New Forest. Whilst all three oilfields are still in production, they are now declining and the Humbly Grove oilfield is also used for gas storage. However, due to advances in technology and changing economic circumstances and oil prices, it is important that the sites and related infrastructure are safeguarded and provision made for future exploration and production.

12.7 The Core Strategy contains a policy framework for the control of new locations for oil and gas exploration and exploitation and the Minerals Plan contains proposals for the production of oil and gas and associated ancillary development at the sites below:

1. Fullerton Wellsite, Goodworth Clatford

2. Folly Farm Wellsite, Crawley

3. Hill Farm Wellsite, Barton Stacey

4. Larkwhistle Farm Wellsite, South Wonston

5. Matterley Farm, Itchen Valley

6. Herriard `A' Wellsite, Tunworth

7. Herriard `X' Wellsite

8. Weston Common Gathering Station, Weston Patrick

9. Humbly Grove `C' Wellsite, Weston Patrick

10. Humbly Grove `A' Wellsite, Upton Grey

11. Humbly Grove `X' Wellsite, South Warnborough

12. Holybourne Rail Export Terminal, Alton

13. Horndean `B' Wellsite, Horndean

14. Horndean `X' Wellsite, Horndean

15. Horndean `C' Wellsite, Rowlands Castle

Safeguarding

12.8 Minerals are an important resource but their value can be prejudiced by development. It is a requirement of national policy that mineral resources are safeguarded so that any proposals that could sterilise a deposit or limit its capacity to be exploited in the future should give due consideration to this issue.

12.9 Accordingly, Mineral Safeguarding Areas will be defined on the Plan's Proposals Map. The Area does not indicate that the mineral will be worked, but purely indicates its presence as a potentially valuable deposit that should be considered for protection or `prior extraction' if a planning application is submitted.

12.10 Similarly, existing and proposed mineral sites and areas identified in the Plan will be safeguarded by the Plan against competing proposals and or proposals in the vicinity that may create a land use conflict.

12.11 Notwithstanding the safeguarding it is proposed to remove the safeguarding on the following sites as the need for the facilities cannot be justified in relation to alternative uses:

Tipner Wharf, Portsmouth

Wilments Shipyard, Southampton

Micheldever Rail Depot

13. Next Steps

13.1 The next stage of the process will take place over a period of six weeks starting in September 2008. This is the opportunity for the public to make representations on the soundness of the Plan and its preparation process. Following submission to the Government the Plan will be subject to a Public Examination (probably in the autumn of 2009), and any changes recommended by the Inspector will require a further revision of the Plan (the Modifications Stage). From the date of approval by the County Council onwards the Hampshire Minerals Plan proposed submission document will be official policy of the Council and used for determining planning applications and other decisions related to the development and use of land for minerals activities, until superseded by any modifications to the Plan.

14. Impact Assessments

14.1 There are no impacts on crime and disorder, and sustainability issues including impact on residents and other sensitive receptors have been addressed in the report.

15. Conclusions

15.1 The Minerals Plan proposals have been developed through robust consultation and appraisal processes and represent the most sustainable options to deliver sufficient sand, gravel and other minerals without compromising the Hampshire environment or quality of life of Hampshire Communities. The rigorous appraisal process has identified the sites with the least impacts, which represent viable future minerals sites for inclusion in the Plan.

15.2 The Hampshire Minerals Plan, together with the adopted Core Strategy will provide a sound, robust and up to date planning framework for the determination of future planning applications for the extraction of aggregates, and for the siting of aggregate recycling and transhipment facilities and landfill provision.

LINK(S) TO CORPORATE STRATEGY
	Yes	No
Hampshire safer and more secure for all
Maximising well-being	_
Enhancing our quality of place	_

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers
The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.
NB the list excludes:
1.	Published works.
2.	Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE	LOCATION
`Preferred Option' Consultation Paper	Environment Department Room 130

1578Rpt/AF