Communities should be involved with planning from start

The Department was responding to concerns over planning and public attitudes to waste plants expressed in March this year by Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee (see letsrecycle.com story).

In its response to the committee's report, which has not yet been made available publicly, Defra said that community involvement is an essential part of the planning system generally and waste planning specifically.

“There will therefore be more and earlier opportunities for local communities to have effective influence over the planning of waste management facilities,” the response stated. “This will be when it counts, in the preparation of plans and strategies, and not as opposition of last resort to submitted planning applications.”

Defra also said that it had been working with local authorities to make planning in general faster, fairer and more flexible.

The department said: “The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister recently consulted on new planning policy on waste management (Draft Planning Policy Statement 10: Planning for Sustainable Waste Management. This will update Planning Policy Guidance Note 10.”

Plans
The department also reminded the waste management industry that it needs to come up with feasible plans if planning permission is to be granted to sites.

It said: “Unacceptable proposals out-of-line with up-to-date plans should not expect to gain a favourable response from local planning authorities.”

However, Defra did concede that some investment has been delayed, or even deterred, by ill-founded opposition to waste management proposals.

The EFRA committee had previously said that the planning system must balance the country's strategic need to manage the waste we produce with the right of the public to challenge planning proposals.