Glossary

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Aftercare - the management and treatment of restored mineral workings and landfill sites with the object of ensuring that the planned after-use is established as successfully as possible.

Aggregates - sand, gravel, crushed rock and other bulk materials used in the construction industry for purposes such as the making of concrete, mortar, asphalt or for roadstone, drainage or bulk filling materials.

Agricultural Grades 1, 2 and 3A - agricultural land defined by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as the 'best and most versatile' to be protected, where possible, from irreversible damage.

Alternative aggregates - aggregates other than locally land-won sand and gravel.

Amenity waste - non-business waste delivered by the public to a household waste recycling centre, mainly comprising bulky household and garden waste.

Anaerobic digestion - a resource recovery process in which organic waste is digested anaerobically to produce compost and biogas, which can be used as a fuel.

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) - identified and designated by the Countryside Commission under Sections 87 and 88 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

Backfilling - the deposition of materials, usually waste, in a mineral working to reinstate the land to its original levels.

Bird strike - damage caused by birds striking the fuselage or entering the engine of an aircraft.

Borrow pit - a mineral working providing aggregates or other bulk filling minerals solely for use in a particular construction project and normally close to the project.

Buffer zone - an area to remain generally undisturbed adjoining minerals and waste operations to give protection to properties and other features sensitive to disturbance.

Building sand - fine sand suitable for use in such products as mortar, asphalt and plaster (also known as soft sand).

Bund - an embankment, formed of natural material, used either to screen a site from view, reduce noise emission from a site or to contain waste within a site.

Category A waste - waste materials which are mainly inert in character and therefore non-polluting; comprised mostly of construction and demolition waste.

Category B waste - waste materials which may decompose slowly but which, in their deposited form, are only slightly soluble; comprised mainly of commercial and industrial waste and including a great diversity of materials such as paper, plastic, timber and metal.

Category C waste - the more putrescible types of waste materials, predominantly collected household and commercial waste and amenity waste, with other putrescible commercial and industrial waste.

Clinical waste - human or animal tissue, blood or other body fluids, excretions, drugs or other pharmaceutical products, swabs, dressings, syringes, needles or other sharp instruments, which may prove hazardous to any person coming into contact with it, and any other waste arising from medical, nursing, dental, veterinary, pharmaceutical or similar practices which may cause infection to any person coming into contact with it (also known as health care waste).

Co-disposal - a process whereby industrial waste, particularly liquid and sludge, is landfilled in conjunction with household and commercial waste.

Commercial waste - waste from premises used wholly or mainly for the purposes of a trade or business, e.g. shops, offices and places of entertainment.

Compaction - increasing the density of solid waste in landfill by the repeated passage of heavy machinery over its surface, and the use of baling machines and stationary compactors for compacting waste into containers.

Composting - aerobic decomposition of organic matter (e.g. from garden waste or sewage sludge) to produce compost for use as a fertiliser or soil conditioner.

Concrete batching plant - plant which delivers mixes of cement, aggregate and water into mixer trucks for transport as ready-mixed concrete to construction sites.

Concreting aggregate - aggregates suitable for use in making concrete.

Concreting sand - coarse sand suitable for use in making concrete (also known as sharp sand).

Construction and demolition waste - waste, generally inert, arising from the construction, maintenance or demolition of buildings or other civil engineering structures.

Consumption of minerals - amount of mineral actually used in an area.

Controlled waste - household, industrial (including construction and demolition) and commercial waste or any such waste which is subject to control under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Countryside Heritage Areas and Sites - areas and sites within Hampshire which are important for their historic, archaeological, nature conservation, scientific or scenic value, recorded by the County Council under a non-statutory Countryside Heritage Policy.

Crushed concrete - demolition waste including concrete which is crushed and re-used as an aggregate for construction purposes.

Crushed rock - hard rock, most commonly limestone and granite, which has been quarried, fragmented and graded for use as aggregate.

Decomposition - breakdown of matter into more simple chemical forms. Decomposition may be caused by physical, chemical or micro-biological action.

Demand for minerals - amount of minerals required to be supplied within an area.

Derelict and degraded land - land that has been in some way so damaged by industrial or other development that it requires treatment to bring about a beneficial use, and poor quality agricultural land of low nature conservation value which has been visually downgraded by the removal of natural landscape features.

Difficult waste - waste which, due to its nature or physical properties, can give rise to particular pollution risks or nuisance and may require special management for disposal, including a wide variety of waste types.

District heating - the use of waste hot water from energy production to heat buildings through a pipe network system.

Drift deposits - shallow but relatively extensive superficial geological deposits, such as valley or plateau gravels.

Dust - fine particles of solid materials greater than 1.75 micron diameter (see British Standard 3405) and capable of being resuspended in air and settling slowly under the influence of gravity.

Ecology - the study of living organisms in relation to their surroundings.

Effluent - fluid discharged or emitted to the external environment.

Emission - a material which is expelled or released to the environment. Usually applied to gaseous or odorous discharges to the atmosphere.

Energy from waste - the burning of waste to create heat which can be used directly or to generate electricity.

Environment Agency - a national body established in April 1996 to take over the responsibilities of the National Rivers Authority (NRA), Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) and the largely county council administered Waste Regulation Authorities, responsible (inter alia) for water and air pollution control, integrated pollution control (IPC), the licensing and monitoring of waste management sites, the registration of waste carriers, and water resource management.

Environmental appraisal - the evaluation by the planning authority of the significance and likely impact of the predicted effects of a proposed development or development plan policies and proposals and of the scope for modifying or mitigating them.

Environmental Assessment - the process by which the impact of a proposed development on the environment can be assessed.

Environmental impact - the total effect of any operation on the surrounding environment.

Environmental Statement - a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the impacts of a proposed development presented in a form understandable for public scrutiny.

Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) - areas designated by the Minister of Agriculture, selected for their landscape and wildlife value and where traditional farming methods would help to maintain this value, within which agreements are made with landowners to manage land in an appropriate way.

Fill - aggregates (usually low grade) used in construction or land reclamation works to create new levels.

Fly tipping - the unregulated and hence illegal dumping of waste.

Fly ash - the residue resulting from the cleaning of gases from a waste incineration process.

Furnace ash - the non-combustible residue resulting from the incineration of waste.

Gasification - waste treatment process in which waste is heated to produce a combustible gas that can be burned in excess air to generate heat.

Global warming - possible changes to the Earth's climate by the effect of emissions to the atmosphere.

Government View Procedure - procedure whereby the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions carries out an assessment of the possible effects of proposals for the dredging of marine aggregates, including the carrying out of various consultations, in respect of applications for licences to dredge aggregates made to the Crown Estate.

Green Belt - an area defined in Structure and Local Plans to safeguard the countryside within it from further encroachment by built development in accordance with Government guidance in PPG2 - Green Belts (1995).

Hampshire Lorry Route Network - two tier network of routes, consisting of strategic and local lorry routes, (based on the Strategic Road Network in the Hampshire County Structure Plan) defined by the County Council as the basis for managing the major flows of lorries through and within the County, approved by the County Council in May 1992.

Hazardous waste - general term encompassing difficult and special wastes.

Health care waste - see clinical waste.

Hoggin - sand and gravel containing a proportion of clay which acts as a binding agent, usually won from plateau gravel deposits and used generally 'as dug' (i.e. without processing) as fill or to make tracks or paths.

Household waste - waste from a domestic property, caravan, residential home, educational establishment or premises forming part of a hospital or nursing home.

Household Waste Recycling Centre - a site operated on behalf of the Waste Disposal Authority (the County and City Councils) in accordance with the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 to which the public may deliver non-business waste and at which a range of materials (e.g. metals, paper, glass, engine oil) is recycled.

Hydrocarbons - compounds consisting wholly of hydrogen and carbon which form the bulk of oil and natural gas.

Hydrogeology - the study of water below the ground surface.

Hydrology - the study of the way water behaves within an area.

Impervious - used to describe materials, natural or synthetic, which have the ability to resist the passage of fluid through them.

Incinerator residue - the solid remains of waste burnt at an incinerator, together with some cooling water.

Incinerators - industrial plants where combustible waste materials are burnt in order to reduce their volume, weight and pollution potential prior to their disposal at landfill sites.

Industrial waste - waste from any factory within the meaning of the Factories Act 1961 or such other specified premises.

Inert waste - waste that does not normally undergo any significant physical, chemical or biological changes when deposited at a landfill site (Category A waste).

Integrated waste management - a strategy for the management of waste involving a range of environmentally sound systems and processes, including the promotion of waste minimisation, materials recycling, resource recovery and landfilling.

Landbank - a stock of planning permissions within an appropriate local area sufficient to provide for continued extraction of sand and gravel over a given period.

Landfill gas - a by-product from the digestion by anaerobic bacteria of putrescible matter present in waste deposited at landfill sites. The gas is predominantly methane (65 per cent) together with carbon dioxide (35 per cent) and trace concentrations of a range of vapours and gases.

Landfilling - the disposal of waste by its permanent deposition in or on the ground, involving either the filling of man-made voids or the construction of features above ground level (often referred to as landraising).

Landraising - the permanent raising of land levels by depositing material above existing or original ground levels.

Land-won sand and gravel - sand and gravel excavated from land.

Leachate - contaminated liquor which can seep from a landfill site.

Legal (planning) agreement - an agreement between the local planning authority and any person with an interest in land in its area for the purpose of restricting or regulating the development or use of land (see also planning obligation).

Liner - a natural or synthetic membrane material, used to line the base and sides of a landfill site to prevent leachate or landfill gas seeping into surrounding geological strata.

Local Lorry Route - see Hampshire Lorry Route Network.

Local Nature Reserve - a nature reserve declared by a local authority in consultation with English Nature under Section 21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

Local Plan - a detailed land-use plan for a local area (normally a whole district or city area) or for minerals and/or waste concerned with the implementation of the policies of a structure plan, and prepared and adopted by a local planning authority.

Marine-dredged sand and gravel - sand and gravel dredged from deposits on the seabed and landed at wharves for use as aggregates.

Materials recovery (or reclamation or recycling) facility (MRF) - facility at which mixed, recyclable waste is separated mechanically and/or manually, baled and stored for reprocessing.

Mineral Consultation Areas - areas where mineral deposits are believed to exist, within which the District Council should consult the County Council, as mineral planning authority, on any development proposed which might sterilise or prejudice the working of that deposit.

Minerals - in this Plan are naturally occurring rocks or hydrocarbons which are of commercial value for construction, energy, agricultural or industrial purposes.

Minerals Industry - all persons, firms or corporate bodies who undertake the winning, working, processing and distribution of minerals.

Mineral Planning Authority (MPA) - the local planning authority (the County and City Councils) responsible for planning control over mineral working and other minerals related development.

Monitoring - a continuous or regular periodic check to determine the environmental impact of mineral and waste operations and to ensure compliance with planning permissions, disposal licence conditions and other statutory environmental requirements, and to ascertain the effectiveness of planning policies.

National Nature Reserve - a nationally important biological or geological site declared by English Nature and managed through ownership, leasehold or a nature reserve agreement.

Natural aggregates - aggregates won from naturally occurring deposits, whether on land or from the seabed.

Non-inert waste - waste that is potentially biodegradable or may undergo other significant physical, chemical or biological change when deposited at a landfill site (categories B and C wastes).

Non-renewable resources - naturally occurring materials, including minerals such as sand and gravel and hydrocarbons, which once used cannot be replaced.

Overburden - soil and other material that overlies a mineral deposit of economic value, which must be removed in order to extract the mineral.

Permitted reserves - mineral deposits with planning permission for extraction.

Permitted void space - the remaining volume at landfill and land raising sites with planning permission for waste deposition.

Planning obligation - an enforceable bilateral or unilateral agreement introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the purpose of restricting or regulating the development or use of land (see also legal agreement).

Plateau gravel - a drift deposit containing a high proportion of sand and gravel, but usually with a greater silt and clay content than valley gravel, normally found as a capping on higher ground adjacent to river valleys and generally above the water table.

Pollution - the addition of materials or energy to an existing environmental system to the extent that undesirable changes are produced directly or indirectly in that system.

Process residue - the residual waste requiring disposal by landfilling following the processing of waste to reduce its volume, recover resources and make it easier to handle, transport and dispose of.

Production of minerals - the amount of saleable minerals excavated from a site or area.

Progressive restoration - the method of restoring a site or area in phase with working so that the minimum area practicable is out of its former or future use at any one time.

Putrescible - readily able to be decomposed by bacterial action, usually producing landfill gas and leachate as by-products of this decomposition.

Rail-head aggregates depot - a reception point for aggregates moved in bulk by rail (normally over comparatively long distances) for onward distribution, normally by road, normally comprising a railway siding, off-loading and storage facilities, and sometimes including mineral processing and other plant.

Recycling - the collection or recovery of reusable materials from waste before it becomes mixed and contaminated in the waste stream, and subsequent processing of the materials into marketable products.

Refuse derived fuel - fuel produced from household or commercial waste by shredding and separating out the non-combustible part, which can be used in suitable industrial boilers or to produce energy.

Reserves - mineral deposits in the ground which have been tested to establish the quality and quantity of material present and which could be economically and technically exploited.

Resource recovery - the recovery of materials, fuel or energy from waste after it has become mixed and contaminated in the waste stream.

Resources - potential mineral deposits where the quality and quantity of material present has not been tested and the working of which may be restricted or prevented by economic or environmental constraints.

Restoration - the process of returning a site or area to its former or future use following mineral extraction and/or waste disposal either at the same or different ground level.

Scheduled Ancient Monument - a nationally important archaeological site included in the Schedule of Ancient Monuments maintained by the Secretary of State under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

Sea-borne aggregates - any aggregates transported by sea whether won from the seabed or not.

Secondary aggregates - materials which do not meet primary aggregate (e.g. sand, gravel and crushed rock) specifications but which can be used instead of primary aggregates, produced as by-products of other processes, including by-products from the production of primary aggregates.

SERAWP - South East Regional Aggregates Working Party - a joint working group, comprising local authority officers, representatives of the aggregates supply industry, central government bodies and the railway and port industries, established to consider matters likely to affect the demand for and the supply of aggregates in South East England and to advise the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

SERPLAN - The London and South East Regional Planning Conference - an organisation of local authorities in South East England which considers important planning and transportation matters affecting the region, including minerals and waste planning.

Sewage sludge - sludge resulting from the treatment of raw sewage and typically containing 70 - 90 per cent water prior to dewatering.

SEWRAC - South East Waste Regulation Advisory Committee - a joint advisory group of the former Waste Regulation Authorities which was established to maintain consistent standards for regulation in South East England and to prepare a regional waste strategy, but was disbanded following the transfer of responsibility for waste regulation to the Environment Agency in April 1996.

Sharp sand and gravel - see concreting sand.

Site of Archaeological Interest - land which is included in the schedule of monuments compiled by the Secretary of State under section 1 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (scheduled ancient monument), or is within an area of land which is designated as an area of archaeological importance under section 33 of that Act, or which is within a site registered in any record kept by a County Council and known as the County Sites and Monument Record.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - an area of special interest by reason of its flora, fauna, or geological or physiographical features, selected by English Nature and notified under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Sludge - an intimate mixture of solid and liquid.

Soft sand - see building sand.

Solid sand deposits - geological deposits, other than drift deposits, which contain a high proportion of sand.

Special Protection Area - area of importance for the habitats of certain rare or vulnerable categories of birds or for regularly occurring migratory bird species, required to be designated and protected by member states under the European Community Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EC).

Special waste - waste as defined in the Control of Pollution (Special Waste) Regulations 1980, which may be dangerous to life or has a flashpoint of 21 degrees C. or less, or is a medicinal product available only on prescription, requiring special care in its transport and disposal.

Statutory waste - household waste and commercial waste collected by the waste collection authorities (District and City Councils), for which the Waste Disposal Authority (County and City Councils) has a legal duty to make suitable disposal arrangements.

Sterilisation - permanent development on a site or area which would prevent working of a mineral deposit identified as likely to be of commercial interest.

Stewardship - the recognition that it is mankind's duty to look after the Earth prudently and conscientiously.

Strategic gap - an area identified in the Structure Plan and Local Plans to prevent the coalescence and retain the separate identity of settlements which are in close proximity.

Strategic Lorry Route - see Hampshire Lorry Route Network.

Structure Plan - a written statement of the County and City Councils' strategic planning policies and main proposals for change over a period.

Subsoil - the less well-structured and less biologically active layer below topsoil which acts as a reserve of nutrients and water for plant growth in the topsoil.

Substitute materials - materials other than natural aggregates, suitable for use as aggregates, e.g. aggregates manufactured from waste such as pulverised fuel ash and colliery spoil, and recycled crushed concrete.

Supply of minerals - the amount of minerals made available for use in an area.

Surcharging - the addition of waste material to a landfill site above approved final levels to allow for calculated settlement of the waste.

Sustainable development - development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Tonnes - a metric ton weighing a little less than an imperial ton (1 ton = 1.016 tonnes).

Transfer station - a site to which collected waste is delivered and transferred to bulk transport for delivery by road, rail or water to a waste processing or final disposal site.

Valley gravel - drift deposits generally found in valley bottoms which contain a high proportion of sand and gravel and relatively little silt or clay, usually extending below the water table causing excavated areas to fill with water.

Void space - the volume within a mineral working or at a landraising site which is potentially usable for the deposition of waste.

Waste - any substance which constitutes a scrap material or an effluent arising from the application of any process, and any substance or article which requires to be disposed of as being broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise spoiled.

Waste Collection Authority - the authority (the District and City Councils) responsible for implementing the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for the collection of household waste and, if requested, commercial and industrial waste.

Waste disposal - the process of getting rid of unwanted, broken, worn out, contaminated or spoiled materials in an orderly, regulated fashion.

Waste Disposal Authority - the authority (the County and City Councils) responsible for implementing the provisions of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990 with regard to the disposal of waste.

Waste Disposal Industry - all persons, firms or corporate bodies, other than local authorities (the Waste Collection and Disposal Authorities), who undertake the collection, treatment, transfer and ultimate disposal of waste.

Waste Disposal Plan - statement of the types and quantities of waste arising and the arrangements made and proposed to be made by waste disposal contractors for the treatment and disposal of waste, prepared by the former Waste Regulation Authorities (the County Council), also known as a Waste Management Plan.

Waste Management Licence - a licence granted by the Waste Licensing Authority (the Environment Agency) under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which authorises the holder to deposit, or to use equipment to dispose of or otherwise manage, controlled waste on a particular site.

Waste Management Plan - see waste disposal plan.

Waste minimisation - the process of reducing the quantity of waste arising and requiring processing and/or disposal.

Waste Planning Authority (WPA) - the local planning authority (the County and City Councils) responsible for planning control over waste disposal and other waste management related development.

Waste processing - the physical, chemical or biological treatment of waste in order to recover resources, reduce the volume of waste and make it easier to handle, transport and dispose of.

Waste Recycling Plan - statement of the arrangements made and proposed to be made by the Waste Collection Authority and others for dealing with waste for the purpose of recycling it, prepared by the District and City Councils.

Waste treatment - the process of making waste materials easier to handle, transport and dispose of by chemical, physical or biological means.

Waste water (sewage) treatment works - facilities for the reception, treatment and disposal of waste water (sewage), operated by the Water Companies (Southern, Thames and Wessex Water in Hampshire).

Water table - the level of water below the surface of the ground in porous or permeable rocks which rises and falls with changes in the weather.

Weighbridge - a machine used to weigh large objects such as vehicles (e.g. to establish payloads).

Weight/Volume - the approximate conversion figures used in this Plan are:

1 cubic metre of sand = 1.60 tonnes

1 cubic metre of gravel = 1.47 tonnes

1 tonne of category A waste = 0.7515 cubic metres (in-tip equivalent volume)

1 tonne of category B waste = 1.4 cubic metres (in-tip equivalent volume)

1 tonne of category C waste = 1.3 cubic metres (in-tip equivalent volume)

Wetland of International Importance (Ramsar site) - site of international importance for waterfowl protected under the Ramsar Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands of International Importance, ratified by the UK Government in 1976.

Wheel cleaning - the process by which dirt and mud adhering to the wheels and chassis of vehicles that have travelled over a mineral working or landfill site is removed before they gain access to public roads.