Sand: Quarrying

(asked on 2nd February 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance the Government provides to mineral planning authorities on calculating the need for silica sand extraction over the period of a Minerals and Waste Local Plan.


Answered by
Dominic Raab Portrait
Dominic Raab
This question was answered on 12th February 2018

Planning for industrial minerals is a matter for minerals planning authorities. The National Planning Policy Framework asks that minerals planning authorities should plan for a steady and adequate supply of industrial minerals by providing a stock of permitted reserves to support the level of actual and proposed investment required for new or existing plant and the maintenance and improvement of existing plant and equipment, of at least 10 years for individual silica sand sites, and at least 15 years for silica sand sites where significant new capital is required.

National Planning Practice Guidance states that the required stock of permitted reserves for each silica sand site should be based on the average of the previous 10 years sales, and that the calculations should have regard to the quality of sand and the use to which the material is put.

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