The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has released updated rules on waste facility development to ‘further enhance the strong protections in place against development on green belt land’.

The ‘National Planning Policy for Waste’, released yesterday (16 October 2014), outlines that companies and councils looking to build waste facilities such as recycling plants should ‘first look for suitable sites and areas on brownfield land’.

The new rules also stipulate that planning authorities can no longer give special consideration to locational needs (or wider economic benefits the site could bring) as a justification for building waste facilities on green belt land.

According to Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, the measures will ensure the green belt can continue to offer a “strong defence” against “urban sprawl” in towns and cities, and only see green belt land developed in “very special circumstances”.

He said: “I am crystal clear that the green belt must be protected from development, so it can continue to offer a strong defence against urban sprawl.

“[These] new rules strengthen these protections further, and ensure that whether it’s new homes, business premises or anything else, developers first look for suitable sites on brownfield land.”

National Planning Policy for Waste details

Released following a period of consultation, the new policy is to be referred to by local planning authorities when considering waste facility proposals (in conjunction with the National Planning Policy Framework, the Waste Management Plan for England and National Policy Statements for Waste Water and Hazardous Waste).

It encourages local authorities to conduct a ‘robust analysis’ of available data and information when planning the introduction of new waste management capacity, and to work with other planning authorities where appropriate.

Furthermore, it states that any waste planning policies should aim to move waste up the waste hierarchy (which has waste prevention at the top, followed by reuse, recycling, recovery and finally disposal) and give priority to the reuse of previously developed land.

Any new planning application should also ‘consider the likely impact on the local environment and on amenity’. As such, waste planning authorities should seek to protect green belts, but should also ‘recognise the particular locational needs of some types of waste management facilities when defining detailed green belt boundaries’.

There are a number of further environmental concerns to be considered by planning authorities when evaluating waste management projects, including the presence of unpleasant odours, vermin, dust emissions, unacceptable noise levels and the creation of litter.

The impact of development on vulnerable water resources and nature conservation, as well as negative visual intrusion upon landscapes of national importance (such as national parks) or heritage sites (such as listed buildings) must also be considered.

Waste management sites must also be well designed so as to ‘contribute positively to the character and quality of the area in which they are located’.

In addition to these concerns, all planning authorities are encouraged to consider the impact of non-waste development on waste management sites and whether this would have an impact on the waste hierarchy. Non-waste development must also be well integrated with waste management facilities, for example on residential premises to ensure a ‘high quality household collection service’.

Waste arisings from construction projects must also maximise reuse or recovery opportunities and minimise off-site disposal.

Finally, local planning authorities should monitor the amount of waste that is recycled, recovered or sent for disposal, as well as the capacity, stock and waste arisings of waste management facilities.

The new policy follows new guidance published earlier this month, which reaffirms how councils should use their local plan, drawing on protections in the National Planning Policy Framework, to protect the ‘green lungs’ around towns and cities.

Read the ‘National Planning Policy for Waste’.