Environmental Safeguards
13.17 It is vital to maintain a high standard of control over all minerals operations, reworking, prospecting and exploration to ensure these activities can be accommodated without adverse effects upon the transport and highway network, local residents and the environment. The Town and Country Minerals Act (1981) imposed a duty on mineral planning authorities to undertake a periodic review of old minerals permissions. Many of these old permissions had very few conditions attached and the review is a means of bringing these sites up to modern day standards by attaching conditions which control the operations and ensure the restoration and after-care of these mineral working sites. Provisions under the Planning and Compensation Act (1991) enabled old Interim Development Order permissions granted before July 1948 to be registered and reviewed. The Environment Act (1995) revised the requirements to review minerals permissions granted between July 1948 and February 1982 and to undertake a periodic review of all mineral planning permissions. The actions the Mineral Planning Authorities have to undertake to achieve the review of old minerals permissions are set out in MPG14 ‘Review of Mineral Permissions’ (1995). The following Policy reflects the opportunities offered by the legislation to update mineral working permissions to secure environmental protection and ensure that the sites are restored to a beneficial after-use.
Policy M 8
Review of Mineral Working Sites
Mineral working sites will continue to be reviewed to identify:-- any inadequacies in existing planning control for the protection of the environment both during and after working; and
- any opportunities for obtaining improved environmental standards.
In respect of identified inadequacies and opportunities, improvements will be required to ensure the satisfactory working and reclamation of sites.