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Mineral Planning

Minerals are an important natural resource which make an essential contribution to the nation’s prosperity and quality of life. Sand, gravel, crushed rock, chalk and clay all provide the construction industry with the raw materials required for constructing and maintaining roads, buildings and other infrastructure. Minerals such as coal, oil and gas are essential sources of energy and enable the production of electricity and heat. Minerals are also essential elements in the production of a variety of other products. An adequate and steady supply of minerals is essential if current standards of living are to be maintained in society as well as meeting basic needs for quality of life, such as shelter.

County Councils (and where relevant, Unitary Authorities) are responsible for minerals planning and are described as mineral planning authorities. In accordance with the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), Hertfordshire County Council has a duty to prepare and review a Minerals Local Plan. The County Council adopted its first Minerals Local Plan in July 1998. The function, period and scope of this Review are set out in Appendix 1.

Planning for minerals in Hertfordshire is guided by national and regional policy. The Hertfordshire Structure Plan provides the strategic framework (broad principles) for minerals planning within the county. The Hertfordshire Minerals Local Plan interprets national and regional policy and carries forward and develops in detail the broad mineral policies in the Structure Plan. In this way, the Minerals Local Plan ensures that minerals policies which are used to inform decisions on minerals planning applications in the county are relevant to the situation in Hertfordshire. The Minerals Local Plan sets out the development planning framework for future minerals extraction and associated development whilst providing for environmental protection. This plays an important role in providing certainty and consistency for both industry and the general public.

The European Court of Justice ruling with regards to the Habitats Directive delayed the adoption of the Minerals Local Plan Review and as a consequence the County Council has to either carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Minerals Local Plan Review or justify why it considers a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Plan is not feasible.

The County Council believes that it has not been/is not feasible to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Minerals Local Plan Review and has consulted on this decision. The full non-feasibility statement setting out the county council’s reasons is available below. The responses to this consultation will also be considered at the meetings set out above.

The Minerals Local Plan 2002 - 2016 was adopted on 27 March 2007.