revised EU Waste Framework Directive<\/a>.<\/p>\nPPS 10 restates the ‘plan led’ approach to planning for sustainable waste management. This, through the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), places the local plan as the keystone of the planning system and against which all individual planning applications will be judged. In formulating local plans, waste planning authorities take account of total waste arisings against current capacity, and therefore have an interest in the waste streams that may be consigned to particular waste facilities in their area.<\/p>\n
The National Policy Statement for Hazardous Waste provides a framework for planning decisions on nationally significant infrastructure projects. Facilities which are mainly for the purpose of the final disposal or recovery of radioactive waste are not within scope. However, proposals for the development of hazardous waste facilities that might handle a relatively small proportion of low level radioactive waste alongside hazardous waste are within the scope where they also meet the definition of a nationally significant infrastructure project.<\/p>\n
Many current waste plans currently focus primarily, but not exclusively, on Local Authority Collected and Commercial and Industrial wastes. Waste planning authorities are nonetheless expected to plan for the sustainable management of waste in their areas, including waste streams such as low level radioactive waste, as are set out in DCLG “Guidance for local planning authorities on implementing planning requirements of the European Union Waste Framework Directive (2008\/98\/EC)”. Typically, older style local waste plans have not explicitly addressed radioactive waste. This has been for a variety of reasons, perhaps most significantly the lack of a nationally definitive statement or evidence on strategic needs. This situation is changing through the production of new, or the updating of existing, local waste plans by waste planning authorities.<\/p>\n
Strategic matters were formally addressed in the planning system by regional plans, with PPS10 encouraging regional planning bodies to consider evidence on strategic waste arisings and capacity requirements as collaged by the Regional Technical Advisory Boards. The Localism Act 2011 made provision for the abolition of regional strategies and introduced the requirement for the Duty To Co-Operate in relation to planning of “strategic”, cross-local authority boundary, planning matters. Waste has been identified as a strategic matter in the National Planning Policy Framework. The evidence presented in this document will be an important part of setting out the scale of the issue to be addressed by the Duty to Co-Operate. This means that LLW may need to be considered at a greater than local level. While this is not a “duty to agree”, it is a fundamental requirement of plan making. Authorities who do not take a positive and on-going approach to this issue, and so are unable to demonstrate how they have complied with the Duty at the independent examination of their local plans, will find that they are not be able to proceed further to adopt their draft plan. In light of this strategy waste planning authorities should actively consider what scale of NORM waste they need to plan for, including potential waste movements from other areas.<\/p>\n
Land Use Planning: Wales<\/h3>\n
The general planning policy framework in Wales is provided by Planning Policy Wales\/Minerals Planning Policy Wales (PPW\/MPPW) and Technical Advice Note 21 Waste (TAN 21). PPW and TAN 21, in particular, set the context for the preparation of Local Development Plans and for decision making in relation to waste proposals as part of a plan-led approach. Along with local authority development plans PPW and TAN 21 form part of the wider national waste management plan in Wales required to meet the obligations set out in the revised EU Waste Framework Directive.<\/p>\n
To date, local planning authorities in Wales have also collaborated to produce Regional Waste Plans as a means of facilitating the provision of infrastructure necessary to accommodate waste arisings across all waste streams. These plans have provided information on both the types of waste facilities required in a region and the types of locations likely to be acceptable. The outcomes have been implemented through each local authority’s development plan. However, the publication of new waste policy in Towards Zero Waste has signalled a new approach based on a Wales-wide strategic waste assessment through the provision of a Collections, Infrastructure and Markets Sector Plan and adjustments are currently being made to the planning framework to reflect this.<\/p>\n
Radioactive wastes have traditionally not been explicitly addressed by either Regional Waste Plans or development plans and do not feature as part of the latest Wales-wide waste assessments. This has largely been due to the lack of a definitive UK statement raising radioactive waste as an issue and the lack of evidence to date on strategic needs.<\/p>\n
NORM waste generating industries are distributed across the UK, although they tend to be concentrated in certain areas where specific industrial sectors are located. There is a need to accommodate both operational and decommissioning arisings of NORM waste. Collaborative monitoring arrangements are set to form a key part of revised waste planning approaches in Wales and this should provide a mechanism to account for any new evidence on NORM arisings which may come forward and for making any necessary adjustments to waste planning approaches.<\/p>\n
Land Use Planning: Northern Ireland<\/h3>\n
Planning Policy Statement 11 “Planning and Waste Management” (PPS11) sets out the Department of the Environment’s policies for the development of waste management facilities, and explains the relationship between the planning system and those authorities responsible for the regulation and management of waste. The Department is currently undertaking a comprehensive consolidation and review of existing planning policy in order to bring forward a single planning policy statement in advance of the transfer of planning powers to District Councils in 2015 as part of the larger Local Government Reform Programme.<\/p>\n
In accordance with the requirements of Article 23 of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, each of the District Councils must prepare a statement (the Plan) of arrangements made and proposed to be made for the recovery, treatment and disposal of controlled wastes arising in their districts. Three regional waste management groups, representing the District Councils, have prepared Waste Management Plans that cover the whole of Northern Ireland and contain information on the type, scale and locations of waste facilities that will be required during the period of the Plans. In doing so they must take account of the Department’s Waste Management Strategy that sets out its policies in relation to the recovery and disposal of waste in Northern Ireland. Together with the Strategy, they form part of the wider national waste management plan required to meet the obligations set out in the revised Waste Framework Directive.<\/p>\n
The Department has recently published a revised Waste Management Strategy (“Delivering Resource Efficiency”) and the three Waste Management Plans are being revised accordingly. Historically, Northern Ireland has not been host to NORM waste generating industries, therefore at this time NORM waste has not been explicitly addressed in either the Department’s waste strategy or the Councils’ plans. Should any new evidence of NORM waste management requirements come forward, the Department of the Environment will work with District Councils to consider adjustments to waste planning approaches.<\/p>\n
Land Use Planning: Scotland<\/h3>\n
In Scotland, there are two key documents that inform the planning system, the National Planning Framework and Scottish Planning Policy (SPP). Both of these documents are currently under review, and following public consultations are for finalising by June 2014.<\/p>\n
Scotland’s Scottish Zero Waste Plan (ZWP) sets out how planning decisions can support the move to zero waste for Directive wastes. There is addition guidance on planning and waste contained in Planning Advice Note (PAN) 63. PAN 63 is being redrafted to supplement SPP and ZWP. This will include coverage of planning for provision for treatment and disposal capacity for LLW.<\/p>\n
It is clear that some of the longest journeys taken by NORM wastes in the UK are from Scottish sources to disposal facilities in England. This is inefficient and potentially increases the vulnerability of valuable Scottish business sectors to changes in the availability of disposal resources. However, it is not clear that the gaps in disposal provision in Scotland are caused by the planning system, rather than by the reluctance of providers in coming forward with proposals to develop capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Radioactive Material Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) waste NORM Waste Regulation in the UK NORM waste is a specific term used in legislation and includes wastes from NORM industrial activities and NORM wastes from the remediation of land contaminated with NORM. Some of the industrial activities generate, or have the potential for generating, NORM wastes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,321,72,13],"tags":[319,320,138,9,231,28,280,281],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawi.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}