DCLG planning guidance prioritises waste hierarchy

According to the document, published yesterday (December 18), all local planning authorities have a role to play in meeting the requirements of the Directive, including driving waste up the hierarchy.

The Directive is the overarching piece of European Union legislation which dictates how waste must be managed within Member States. It has been transposed into domestic law through the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, which came into force in March 2011.

The DCLG document is aimed at waste planning authorities, highlighting the main legal and policy areas that they must comply with to meet the terms of the Directive.

Current government policy to be followed by waste planning authorities is set out in Planning Policy Statement 10 (PPS10), but this is due to be revised and annexed into the National Waste Management Plan, set to be published by the government in 2013.

The government unveiled its reforms of the planning system in the form of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), in March this year, although waste sector planning was kept under the remit of PPS10.

The statement stipulates that planning authorities are required to deliver planning strategies which drive waste management up the hierarchy, addressing waste as a resource and looking to disposal as the last option.

Hierarchy

And, the DCLG document states that the waste hierarchy is a key component of the National Waste Management Plan for England to which all local authorities are required to consider when preparing plans and also applies to planning authorities that do not deal directly with waste.

These authorities are expected to comply by working constructively with waste planning authorities to identify and protect sites identified for waste management facilities.

Additionally they are expected to consider what the likely impact of non-waste related development will have on existing and proposed waste management sites, and to promote sound management of waste from any development.

Design

Finally, they must encourage the sustainable design of any proposed development, through the use of recycled products, recovery of on-site material and the provision of facilities for the storage and regular collection of waste.

Planning authorities are also recommended to consider whether waste-related development is an acceptable use of land, and on the environmental and human impacts of the proposed uses on the development and the use of land.

The government has made it clear that waste plans setting out how waste will be dealt with on a local level will be a necessary part of the UKs transposition of the Directive, including details of existing major disposal and recovery installations, an assessment of the need for additional waste infrastructure and information of the capacity of future recovery installations.