The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has released a finalised National Policy Statement for Hazardous Waste (NPSHW) outlining government policy for ‘nationally significant’ hazardous waste infrastructure in England (excluding radioactive waste).

In July 2011, the government published its draft NPSHW. A public consultation on the statement was held from 11 July to 20 October 2011, with a parliamentary debate being held on the 12 October 2011.

Following the debate, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee published its response on 14 December 2011. This report contained 15 recommendations, which the government responded to last month.

According to Defra, the main objectives of government policy on hazardous waste are:

• to protect human health and the environment;
• to produce less hazardous waste, using it as ‘a resource where possible and only disposing of it as a last resort’;
• to ensure that sufficient disposal facilities are provided in the country as a whole to match expected arisings of all hazardous wastes (except those produced in ‘very small quantities’), and to enable hazardous waste to be disposed of in one of the nearest appropriate installations; and
• to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and maximise opportunities for climate change adaptation and resilience.

Defra has said it intends to meet these objectives by ‘encouraging the development of a robust infrastructure network to manage hazardous waste’.

NPSHW overview

Indeed, the ‘National policy statement for hazardous waste: A framework document for planning decisions on nationally significant hazardous waste infrastructure’sets out the ‘strategic need and justification’ of government policy for the provision of such infrastructure and is intended ‘to guide decisions made by the Planning Inspectorate’.

As well as providing guidance for the inspectorate and potential developers, the NPSHW particularly advises local planning authorities on what should be included in impact assessments for projects.

NPSHW details

The NPSHW covers the construction of facilities in England where ‘the main purpose of the facility is expected to be the final disposal or recovery of hazardous waste’. Specifically, this targets projects for facilities where capacity for the disposal of hazardous waste by landfill or in a deep storage facility is more than 100,000 tonnes per year; or, in any other case, more than 30,000 tonnes per year.

The document also covers the alteration of a hazardous waste disposal or recovery facility in England where the alteration is: in the case of landfill or disposal or deep storage facility, to increase capacity by more than 100,000 tonnes per year; or, in any other case, to increase capacity by more than 30,000 tonnes per year.

This means that where existing facilities are expanded, capacity would need to increase by at least these amounts to meet the threshold requirements for consideration under the Planning Act, irrespective of whether the capacity of the original facility exceeded those thresholds.

According to the document, ‘there should be a presumption in favour of granting consent to applications for hazardous waste [facilities], which clearly meet the need for such infrastructure’. Areas for consideration include:

• compliance with Health and Safety standards and Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (where appropriate);
• potential benefits including ‘contribution to meeting the need for hazardous waste infrastructure, job creation and any long-term or wider benefits’;
• potential adverse impacts, including any longer-term and cumulative adverse environmental impacts, as well as any measures to ‘avoid, reduce or compensate for any adverse impacts’;
• ensuring that the Environmental Statement (that describes the aspects of the environment likely to be significantly affected by the project) is correct and that ‘likely significant effects at all stages of the project have been adequately assessed’;
• identifying any health impacts, including those from noise, pollution, dust and odour, and identifying measures to avoid, reduce or compensate for these impacts as appropriate;
• considering the impacts of climate change when planning the location, design, build, operation and, where appropriate, decommissioning of new hazardous waste infrastructure (as outlined in the UK Climate Projections);
• deciding whether the development itself is an acceptable use of the land, and on the impacts of that use, rather than the control of processes, emissions or discharges themselves; and
• considering ‘new and innovative technologies to manage a waste stream at a higher point on the waste hierarchy or to produce less residual waste’.

The document also outlines that the Secretary of State has the power to decide to grant development consent for an application even if details are yet to be finalised.

Planning consent for all hazardous waste projects in the devolved governments will be made by the respective government.

It is expected that the Secretary of State will review the NPSHW approximately every five years.

Read the ‘National policy statement for hazardous waste: A framework document for planning decisions on nationally significant hazardous waste infrastructure’.