Minerals and Waste Plans

The adopted Joint Minerals and Waste Plan is now part of the Council’s development plan and will be used to help decide relevant planning applications.

Joint Minerals and Waste Plan: plan-making process

The adopted Joint Minerals and Waste Plan has replaced the formerly adopted minerals and waste plans for the Berkshire area, providing replacement policies based on up to date evidence of the current levels of provision for minerals and waste facilities in the Plan area. Importantly, the Plan aims to establish the future levels of provision required to meet national and regional policy targets and objectives.  It sets out a new vision of how this will be achieved and provides details of strategic sites that we propose will deliver the vision.

The Plan went through several stages of production including several information gathering consultations.

The previous stages in the production of the Plan have been summarised below.

Regulation 25 Publication of the recommendations of the appointed persons (Current stage)

The Inspectors have considered all the comments received and have presented their final conclusion in their Inspectors’ Report. The report concludes that the Plan is ‘sound’, subject to the proposed Main Modifications being made. The Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities can now adopt the Plan, subject to making the Modifications identified.

The Inspector's Report and the schedule of Main Modifications that are required to the Joint Minerals and Waste Plan are available to view and download on the Hampshire County Council website.

The Inspectors’ Report will also be available to view at Ascot, Maidenhead and Windsor libraries. Supporting document will only be available to view at Maidenhead Library.

The Council’s Notice of Publication of the Inspectors’ Report is also available to download.

Consultation on Proposed Main Modifications

Following hearing sessions held in late September and early October 2021, Proposed Main Modifications to the Submission Document are being published for consultation from Monday 28 February 2022 until 5pm on Monday 11 April 2022. These are considered necessary to make sure that the plan is legally compliant and/or sound.

The Proposed Main Modifications are supported by a:

  • Schedule of Additional Modifications;
  • Sustainability Appraisal (SA), incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA);
  • Environmental Report Addendum;
  • Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) Addendum;
  • revised Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA);
  • revised Safeguarding Study;
  • revised Policies Map.

All consultation documents are available to view at the following locations:

  • consultation website
  • The Main Modification Schedule will be available to view at all RBWM libraries.  Supporting documents will only be available to view at Maidenhead library.

Visit the Hampshire County Council website for full details.

Regulation 24 – Examination in Public

Two Planning Inspectors; Rachael A Bust (Lead Inspector) and Nicholas Palmer, have been appointed to undertake an independent examination of the soundness of the Plan. The Matters, Issues and Questions from the Planning Inspectors were received by the Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities and responses were prepared for the hearing sessions. The hearing sessions allowed informal debates to take place on the principal matters identified by the Inspectors.

The hearing sessions as part of the Independent Examination of the Joint Minerals and Waste Plan have been held as detailed below.

  • Hearing Sessions - Dates: 28, 29 and 30 September 2021 from 10am – 4pm
  • Hearing Sessions - Location: The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Offices, Town Hall, St Ives Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1RF  

See the Joint Minerals and Waste Plan website for further details.

Regulation 22 Submission of Documents to the Secretary of State

On Thursday 25 February 2021 the Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities submitted the Joint Minerals and Waste Plan and supporting documents for independent examination, under Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended).

See the Joint Minerals and Waste Plan website for further details.

Regulation 19 Consultation

The Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities published the Proposed Submission version of the plan and invited representations to be made on it, under Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended).

The representations period on the Proposed Submission plan ran for six weeks, beginning on Thursday 3 September 2020 and ending 5pm on Thursday 15 October 2020.

This stage (of the plan making process) includes the Proposed Submission Plan which is the version that is intended to be submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination.

The Proposed Submission Plan document and other key supporting documentation can be found on the Joint Minerals and Waste Plan site at www.hants.gov.uk/berksconsult.

Focussed Regulation 18 consultation: Sand and Gravel Provision and Operator Performance

The Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities conducted a Focussed Regulation 18 Consultation: Sand and Gravel Provision and Operator Performance from Tuesday 11 February 2020 for six weeks until 5pm on Monday 23 March 2020. 

The purpose of the Focussed Consultation was to seek feedback from statutory consultees, stakeholders, communities, local organisations and businesses on the proposed Area of Search, the potential new sites (Land West of Basingstoke Road, Spencers Wood and Area between Horton Brook and Poyle Quarry) and Policy DM15 (Past Operator Performance).

The consultation document supporting this consultation can be found by visiting www.hants.gov.uk/berksconsult.

Call for Sites 2019

The Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities ran another 'Call for Sites' exercise from Wednesday 9 October to Friday 29 November 2019. This involved asking minerals and waste site operators, landowners and developers if they have any additional land not previously put forward for consideration for minerals and waste use. This included any aspirations for extending or widening the range of operations or facilities at existing sites.

This further round of consultation was to seek nominations for additional land, which had not previously been submitted, to be considered for future minerals and waste operations in the Plan area over the next 15 to 20 years.

Additional Regulation 18 consultation on the potential allocation of Bray Quarry Extension

Following the 'Draft Plan' consultation in 2018, it was decided to hold a further 'call for sites' exercise inviting site nominations from industry, agents and landowners. Bray Quarry Extension was the only site proposed. An initial assessment of the site has been undertaken and it has been concluded that it may potentially be suitable to be allocated for sand and gravel extraction.

The Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities ran a consultation from 9 July to 19 August 2019 seeking feedback from statutory consultees, stakeholders, communities, local organisations and businesses on this potential new site. The consultation document supporting this consultation can be found by visiting www.hants.gov.uk/berksconsult. 

Further Call for Sites 2018

To support the preparation of the 'Proposed Submission' version of the Plan, the Central and Eastern Berkshire Authorities invited further nominations for minerals and waste site proposals from Friday 23 November 2018 - Friday 11 January 2019. This was held because the Draft Plan recognises a shortfall in capacity particularly towards the end of the Plan period (2030+).

Draft minerals and waste plan consultation - August 2018

The second stage in plan-preparation was the production of a Draft Plan (formerly referred to as "Preferred Options"). The purpose of this consultation was to engage the community in discussion on managing minerals and waste for the next 20 years. It was also an opportunity to gather more local evidence to determine the plan policies and site allocations.

The consultation period ran from Monday 6 August 2018 to Friday 12 October 2018. In April 2019, a report was published summarising the responses made to this consultation. 

All documents are available to view on the consultation website at: Hants.gov.uk - Draft Plan Consultation 2018

Issues and options consultation - June 2017

The consultation paper formed the first stage in plan-preparation. The purpose of this consultation was to engage the community in discussion on the issues for managing minerals and waste for the next 20 years. It was also an opportunity to gather more evidence to inform the options for the plan policies and site allocations.

Consultation period: From Friday 9 June 2017 to Friday 21 July 2017. 

All consultation documents, including the consultation paper, background papers, and FAQs are available to view on the consultation website at: Hants.gov.uk - Issues and Options.

Call for sites 2017

A Call for Sites process ran for an 8 week period from Monday 13 March to 5pm - Friday 5 May 2017.