Planning inspectors ask for more information over council's quarry site plans

Shropshire Council's local plan is going through its examination process, where planning inspectors assess the evidence behind the authority's proposals to decide if they are acceptable.

The local plan sets out where homes and business developments will be built on land within the Shropshire Council boundaries up until 2038.

It is one of the most important documents developed by the council and includes sites in nearly every town and village in the county which would provide space for a combined 30,800 homes, business land – and space for quarries and mineral extraction.

After a first round of inquiry hearings in July Inspectors wrote to Shropshire Council asking for more information over several issues.

One of those is around plans for the extraction of sand and gravel – an issue which has been discussed in letters back and forth between the council and inspectors over the last month.

Planning inspector Nick Palmer said he was concerned that the council's plan for the issue did not have evidence of specific sites to back it up.

In a letter on August 1 he said: "The plan’s provision for sand and gravel relies on 10.5mt from windfall development, however this figure has not been justified in the submitted evidence."

In his letter Mr Palmer said that the authority's reliance on 'windfall' sites – where they are not specifically allocated in the local plan – was a source of concern.

He said: "I am concerned that there would be significant uncertainty in relying on windfall development to meet the identified need for sand and gravel and it is not clear why the quarries for which proposed extensions are anticipated have not been identified as specific sites in the Plan.

"The existing permitted reserves and the saved allocations would not be sufficient to meet the identified need or to maintain the landbank over the plan period."

Shropshire Council has responded by saying it has held conversations with mineral operators who have told them of plans for the extraction of another 6.2mt – and are happy to provide letters of intent.

In a letter to the inspector Shropshire Council Planning Policy and Strategy Manager, Eddie West, said: "Whilst the council does consider that an appropriate reliance upon windfall is appropriate and in line with national planning policy, it is recognised that additional clarity on the likely scale and timeframe for future windfall proposals is beneficial to enhance certainty of future supply.

"For this reason, the council has approached several mineral operators at existing operational sites in order to clarify their likely intentions. These conversations have supported the figure of 6.2mt as to the likely production capacity resulting from future windfall applications.

"Whilst this information remains commercially sensitive, the operators have indicated their willingness to make available ‘letters of intent’ to the examination should this be required to support your ongoing consideration of the matter."

The planning inspector has now written thanking Mr West for the response – but has again asked why the sites are not included in the plan.

He said: "Given that windfall applications are expected to be submitted by mineral operators, and letters of intent can be provided by those operators, what are the reasons why the sites in question have not been identified as part of the Plan?"

Mr Palmer has given the council until September 16 to respond.