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Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste
Local Plan: |
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Minerals Processing and Manufacturing Plant
Policy 35: In cases where it is not permitted by the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order the Mineral Planning Authorities will grant planning permission for minerals processing and manufacturing plant and other development ancillary to the extraction, landing or unloading of minerals within the boundaries of, or adjacent to, mineral extraction sites, aggregates wharves and rail-head aggregates depots, provided that:
(i) in the case of processing plant, it is required to process minerals either extracted from the mineral working site, landed at the wharf or delivered by rail to the depot;
(ii) in the case of manufacturing plant, the greater part of the minerals to be used to manufacture the product will be either extracted from the mineral working site, landed at the wharf or delivered by rail to the depot, and the manufacturing activities will remain ancillary to the primary use of the site as a mineral extraction site, aggregates wharf or rail-head aggregates depot;
(iii) in the case of other ancillary development, the development is required solely in connection with the administration or servicing of the mineral working site, wharf or depot;
(iv) the plant or other development is to be designed, constructed and landscaped so as to minimise any adverse impact on the amenities of the area and, in any case, it would not be likely to give rise to any unacceptable environmental, traffic or other impact;
(v) the size, type and nature of the plant or other development are appropriate to the scale of the mineral extraction site, aggregates wharf or rail-head aggregates depot for which it is required; and
(vi) the plant, structure or building would be removed as soon as extraction of minerals from the mineral working site has permanently ceased or the use of the aggregates wharf or rail-head aggregates depot has ceased and the site would be restored to a satisfactory condition suitable for an agreed beneficial after-use.
Where permission is granted for minerals processing or manufacturing plant at or adjacent to a mineral extraction site this will be subject to conditions preventing the importation of material from elsewhere, with the exception of material that is necessary for the operation of the plant but is not, or was not formerly, extracted from the mineral extraction site.
5.69 Minerals processing plant is plant required to grade, wash or otherwise process material as extracted from the ground to make a saleable mineral. Manufacturing plant is plant required to adapt the mineral, usually in combination with other material, to manufacture a product such as concrete (i.e. a concrete batching plant), concrete blocks, tarmacadam or asphalt. Ancillary development includes such things as weighbridges, site offices, mess rooms and vehicle maintenance facilities.
5.70 Mineral operators have the right under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 to erect, extend and alter buildings, structures, plant and machinery, and to carry out other operations, in connection with the winning and working, treatment, preparation for sale, consumption, utilisation, storage, and removal of minerals at mineral working sites. The provisions of Policy 35 will therefore only apply where the proposed development is not permitted by the General Permitted Development Order or where the Mineral Planning Authority, by a condition on a planning permission or a legal agreement, has specifically withdrawn General Permitted Development Order rights. The Mineral Planning Authorities do not intend to withdraw General Permitted Development Order rights automatically on every planning permission. In deciding whether General Permitted Development Order rights should be withdrawn the Mineral Planning Authorities will take into account the possible environmental, traffic and long term land use effects if those rights were not withdrawn and, in doing so, will be guided by the other policies of this Plan.
5.71 The Mineral Planning Authorities consider that the location of minerals processing and manufacturing plant and other ancillary development at aggregates pits, wharves or rail depots assists in minimising overall environmental disturbance. The requirement for the greater part of the minerals used at a manufacturing plant to be derived from the site where the plant is located reflects the Mineral Planning Authorities' wish to minimise disturbance through traffic. Accordingly, imports of minerals extracted elsewhere, but used for the same purpose as minerals extracted within the site, will not normally be permitted. Similarly, the Mineral Planning Authorities will not normally permit importation to a site of material won elsewhere for processing. However, exceptions to this general rule may be made in the event that small pockets of material remain to be worked at a site and it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Mineral Planning Authority that there would be environmental advantages in allowing this material to be processed through plant at a nearby site. The Mineral Planning Authorities consider that it is essential for plant and buildings to be removed once extraction at a pit or the use of a wharf or rail depot for the importation of aggregates ceases. This requirement is to secure the satisfactory restoration of sites and to avoid traffic problems that could arise if all the aggregates passing through the plant were to be imported by road.
