ODPM consults on revised guidance

THE Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has issued for further consultation a revised draft of its guidance on controlling and mitigating the environmental effects of mineral working in England.

The draft Mineral Policy Statement (MPS2) states the principles to be followed in considering the environmental effects of mineral working and expands on the need for community consultation and involvement and the use of environmental-management systems. It is accompanied by separate annexes on dust and noise and will be followed by other effect-specific annexes in due course.

Annexes 1 and 2 state the general considerations related to dust and noise, and how these should be dealt with through the planning system. Appendices give background information on the nature of these problems as well as advice on good practice in dust and noise assessment, reduction and control.

The revised consultation document follows earlier consultation on MPG11 (issued in May 2000) and has been drafted to take account of responses to that consultation in the light of the Government’s planning reform agenda, including changes in the approach to planning guidance.

Draft MPS2 is the first of the new-style statements of minerals planning policy requirements to be issued in accordance with the Government’s proposals for reform of the planning system in England, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in July 2002.

The ODPM hopes to consult in 2003–4 on a draft of MPS1, which will be a consolidated general statement of the principles of mineral planning. Later annexes to MPS1, again to be consulted on in due course, will deal with considerations that apply to specific minerals, including construction aggregates.