www.westsussex.gov.uk/mwdf
Have your say on the Draft…
Joint Minerals
Local Plan
Why do we have to
plan for minerals?
What is the joint West Sussex
Minerals Local Plan about?
Minerals are essential to our way of life. They
provide the raw materials that are used to
construct the buildings and infrastructure (such
as roads) that we use in our daily lives. Minerals,
in the form of oil and gas, are also used to
provide the energy our communities need to
heat our homes and power our vehicles.
The Joint Minerals Local Plan will set out a vision
to 2033 and says how and where we would like
mineral development to take place in
the County. The special character
of West Sussex is important
to us, so we have tried to
protect this by considering
the needs of communities,
the environment and
the economy.
It is important that the impacts on communities
and the environment are properly considered
before new mineral development is allowed to
go ahead.
West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and the
South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA)
are responsible for preparing a minerals plan for
West Sussex that considers the need for minerals
and how best to supply them. Once complete,
the Joint Minerals Local Plan will provide a basis
for making decisions about planning applications
for mineral developments.
The Joint Minerals
Local Plan will help to
ensure that the County
Council and National Park
Authority are able to take
planning decisions which
affect mineral developments
in West Sussex. This will help to
ensure there are enough minerals to
support our plans for economic growth.
If you require this document in large
print, Braille or an alternative format
then please contact 01243 642118
www.westsussex.gov.uk/mwdf
What different types of
minerals do we need to
plan for?
What minerals activity takes
place in West Sussex, and how
much will take place in future?
The Joint Minerals Local Plan will consider
different minerals and related activities,
including:
• Aggregates (this includes sharp sand, gravel
and soft sand from quarries on land)
• Silica sand
• Brick-making clay
• Chalk
• Building stone
• Onshore hydrocarbons (oil and gas)
• Aggregate wharves (used to land marinedredged aggregate and crushed rock)
• Aggregate railheads (used to import
crushed rock and some sand and gravel)
• Minerals infrastructure (used to make
concrete and road surfacing).
The main minerals activity in West Sussex is
the extraction or importation of, aggregates.
An average of 2.76 million tonnes of aggregates
are extracted from, or imported into, West
Sussex each year (based on the last 10 years).
CLAY
Clay is worked in
West Sussex to
support the five
active brickworks
in West Sussex. It is
important that these
sites have enough
clay to continue
making bricks for
house building.
Geology map of
West Sussex
Reproduced from or based on 2015 Ordnance Survey mapping with permission of the controller
of HMSO © Crown Copyright reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and
may lead to processution or civil proceedings West Sussex County Council Licence No. 100023447
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Joint Minerals Local Plan | Consultation
County boundary
Higher purity chalk
Lower purity chalk
Consolidated Bedrock
Sand and gravel – superficial
Construction sand – bedrock
Brick clay
Annual amount of aggregates extracted or
imported into West Sussex (2005–2014)
365,062 tonnes
Soft sand and gravel
(Landwon) (13%)
535,333 tonnes
Recycled and secondary aggregate (19%)
19,965
tonnes
Sharp sand and gravel
(Landwon) (1%)
101,836 tonnes
Crushed rock (Sea) (4%)
1,097,950 tonnes
Marine dredged aggregate (39%)
519,219 tonnes
Crushed rock (Rail) (19%)
136,257 tonnes
Sand and gravel (Rail) (5%)
STONE EXTRACTION
Stone extraction is a smallscale industry that provides
local stone which is important
for conservation and
restoration purposes. There
are 4 active and 1 inactive
stone extraction sites in
West Sussex. There is no
requirement to allocate
sites for stone extraction.
AGGREGATE WHARVES
Aggregate wharves
located in Shoreham and
Littlehampton, are important
for the importation of marine
dredged aggregate and
crushed rock. These must be
safeguarded in order to ensure
their continued use to meet
the need for these minerals.
AGGREGATE RAILHEADS
Aggregate railheads located
in Ardingly, Chichester and
Crawley, are important for
the supply of crushed rock
into West Sussex as these
minerals are not found
naturally in West Sussex.
HYDROCARBON (OIL AND GAS)
Hydrocarbon (oil and gas)
development can contribute to
national supplies of oil and gas.
The Department of Energy and
Climate Change (DECC) awards
UK Petroleum Exploration and
Development Licences (PEDL)
which allows companies to pursue
exploration activities, subject to gaining planning
permission. There are currently three production
sites and three exploration sites in West Sussex.
What type of mineral activities
are we planning for?
The supply of minerals involves different activities
which each have different impacts. The draft Plan
considers each of these activities carefully:
• Quarrying – the extraction of
minerals from the ground.
• Storage – stockpiling of minerals before
use, transportation or processing.
• Processing – these often involves crushing and
sorting to produce materials of a specific size.
• Transportation – this can be by lorry, train
or ships.
To ensure minerals can continue to be imported
by ship and train, the draft Plan proposes that
certain wharves and railheads are protected from
other types of development such as housing.
Joint Minerals Local Plan | Consultation
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www.westsussex.gov.uk/mwdf
What does the draft Joint
Minerals Local Plan include?
How do you respond to
this consultation?
The draft Plan sets out four key areas as follows:
1 A ‘vision’ and ‘strategic objectives’ for future
mineral development in West Sussex.
2 Ten ‘mineral and use-specific’ policies, which
will achieve the strategic objectives for
different mineral activities (Policies M1-M10).
3 Fifteen ‘development management’ policies
which will ensure that there would be no
unacceptable harm to the environment and
communities of West Sussex (Policies M12-M26).
4 Two mineral site allocations which will
make an important contribution to meeting
the need for minerals (Policy M11);
• Ham Farm, near Steyning (soft sand)
• Land adjacent to West Hoathly
Brickworks, West Hoathly (brick clay)
A Response Form has been prepared that will help
you make comments and help us to understand
your views on the approach we have taken.
There are two ways of responding – via the online
form, or by posting your paper forms back to us.
We encourage the submission of comments via the
online form as this will help us to process responses
quickly and avoids using paper where possible.
The consultation will close on Friday 17 June
2016. Up until that period, we encourage you
to consider the information provided and
give us your feedback on the draft Plan.
All the information is available online at
www.westsussex.gov.uk/mwdf. Hard copies
of the draft Plan are available for inspection at
libraries and local council offices in West Sussex.
How was the draft Joint
Minerals Local Plan prepared?
What will happen next?
Following the consultation on the draft Plan, we
will consider your comments and decide whether
any changes are needed. Your comments will help
guide and inform the preparation of the version
of the Plan that we submit to Government for
consideration of its soundness and legality (this will
The results of the technical work are set out in a
number of key evidence base documents which are be known as the ‘Proposed Submission Draft Plan’).
all available online at www.westsussex.gov.uk/mwdf. Before submitting to Government, we will invite
These documents cover issues such as transport,
representations on the Proposed Submission
landscape, flooding and impacts on habitats.
Draft Plan in winter 2016/17. This will provide
an opportunity for anyone to comment on
Why is this consultation
the soundness and legality of the Plan.
happening now?
Once the Proposed Submission Draft Plan
We want to find out what communities, businesses
is submitted to Government, a Planning
and other stakeholders think about the draft
Inspector will hold an independent examination
Plan and whether it offers the best approaches
which will be held in public. During the
to supplying minerals in the future. In particular,
examination, the Planning Inspector will
we want to know whether people agree that
consider all the comments received and check
the draft Plan is realistic and will achieve the
that the Plan is sound and has been prepared
vision and objectives that we have set out.
in accordance with the relevant legislation.
Technical work and engagement with communities
and other stakeholders (such as the minerals
industry and other local authorities) has helped
us decide what to include in the draft Plan.
If you would like any further information
about the West Sussex Joint Minerals
Local Plan or how to to respond to
this consultation, please contact the
Planning and Transport Policy Team.
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Joint Minerals Local Plan | Consultation
Strategic Planning (ref: Joint Minerals Local Plan)
West Sussex County Council
County Hall, Chichester, PO19 1RH
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01243 642118
WS31441(A) April 2016