Criteria for Assessing Minerals Applications

13.9 Mineral extraction can cause: noise, dust, vibration, heavy traffic with its implications for road safety and highway maintenance, changes to ground water and drainage, injury to visual amenity, and damage to the landscape and nature conservation. In addition, the subsequent use of the land could be impaired. Planning conditions can provide a means of control to ensure the protection of the environment and local amenity during the life of mineral workings and their subsequent restoration to a beneficial after-use. Alternatively, planning obligations agreed between the operator and the Council may be a more suitable means of achieving the necessary protection measures or securing a compensating environmental or public benefit. Although minerals can only be worked where they are found, extensive and prolonged concentrations of mineral working and restoration in a particular locality can cause injury to the amenity of local residents and to the environment. The assessment of new proposals which are part of a pattern of piecemeal mineral working will need to take into account the cumulative impact resulting from other previous or simultaneous mineral working operations. To ensure a balance between exploiting mineral reserves and the need to protect the environment and communities mineral proposals will be assessed against the criteria set out below as follows:

Policy M 1

Criteria for Assessing All Mineral Working Proposals.

Proposals for new mineral workings or extensions to existing workings will be assessed with regard to the following considerations:-
  1. the effect on the local amenity in terms of visual impact, noise, dust, vibration, blasting, water pollution, hours of operation, land instability and other potential disturbance and their consequent cumulative impact;
  2. duration of working;
  3. the proposed final appearance and landform of the site;
  4. the impact on landscape, the natural environment and habitat sites and species subject to statutory protection;
  5. the impact on Conservation Areas, Ancient Monuments, Listed Buildings, and other sites of archaeological, historical or heritage interest;
  6. the effect of working and restoration (especially where waste disposal is involved) on water resources, including pollution;
  7. the effects on the stability of surrounding land including, harm to the water environment, water resources or ground water flows including the impact of de-watering resulting from the mineral working;
  8. the impact on the viability of agricultural holdings taking into account any loss of the best and most versatile land and the quality of the restoration likely to be achieved following mineral extraction;
  9. the suitability of restoration and after-care proposals to return the development site to a beneficial after-use once working has ceased;
  10. the effect which traffic generated by the proposal will have on road safety, property and the amenities of the people living in the vicinity of the development or along the transportation routes likely to be used;
  11. the availability or provision of adequate access to a suitable highway;
  12. the potential for non-road transport opportunities, in particular the use of rail, pipeline, conveyor or canal facilities will be encouraged so as to reduce disturbance caused by road traffic wherever physical and economic factors permits;
  13. the quantity and quality of the mineral and the contribution made to the local and national economy;
  14. implications for local employment and other relevant issues;
  15. the cumulative impact of past mineral working, other working sites, and on-going restoration; and
  16. all other relevant UDP policies are met.

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