Draft Mineral Sites Plan Update - 2017

The Draft Mineral Sites Plan did not go to consultation in Spring 2017 with the Waste Plan. During this time, work continued on selecting the sites for inclusion in the Plan as 'allocated sites'. For an update on this work, please view Item 6 of the Joint Advisory Committee agenda.

County Council elections held in May 2017 resulted in a change to the timetable for publication of the Mineral Sites Plan and the Waste Plan. A report on the timetable is available. Please see Item 7 of the Joint Advisory Committee Agenda.

Officers reviewed comments received to both the 2015 and the 2016 consultations, and have identified specific issues raised for the site proposals. Responses to these issues and comments, and the relevant documents can be downloaded:

Previous consultations

​Comments made to the plan at various stages of consultation between 2013 to 2016 are still available to view below.

Draft Mineral Sites Plan Update - 2016 consultation

Consultation on the emerging Draft Mineral Sites Plan Update 2016 took place between 26 May and 21 July 2016. Various documents are associated with this consultation and are available to download below.

Revised Site Appraisals 2016

A number of site appraisals were updated in 2016 from their original issue, to clearly identify the sites nominated for future mineral working.

Background papers

You can view and download the background papers prepared for the 2016 consultation. These documents contain evidence which supports the Plan preparation:

Key issues - 2016 Consultation

The key issues raised during the consultation have been summarised and can be downloaded.

The Draft Mineral Sites Plan was reviewed in light of consultation responses, and the views of the public who responded to the consultation.

A short public consultation on revisions to the plan took place in February 2017.

The Draft Mineral Sites Plan Update 2016 provided additional information to that contained in the 2015 Draft Mineral Sites Plan Part 1 and 2015 Draft Mineral Sites Plan Part 2. Stakeholders may find it helpful to refer to the previous plan alongside the 2016 Update plan.

Draft Mineral Sites Plan - 2015 consultation

The public consultation held during Summer/Autumn 2015 finished on 23 September 2015.

During the consultation period, exhibitions were held across the county to allow people to view the proposals and ask questions regarding the proposed content of the emerging plan.

In response to concerns expressed by some residents, Dorset County Council gave assurances that late representations to the consultation would be considered. Any responses received during this time have been considered and included in the report prepared following the consultation.

The Plan identified 22 sites for quarries. Once adopted, the Mineral Sites Plan will be used when the Mineral Planning Authority considers planning applications for future minerals development. Our leaflet gives an overview of the proposals contained in the draft Mineral Sites Plan.

The Plan is available to download:

Portland Coastal Strip Clarification

It has been noted that in the Draft Mineral Sites Plan 2015, the section referring to Portland requires clarification.

Please note that the list of sites identified at paragraph 4.64 of the Draft Mineral Sites Plan 2015 referred to as 'having the potential to produce Portland Stone' excluded the Coastal Strip and Southwell Quarry in this document.

Part of the Coastal Strip is affected by a Modification Order in respect of the 1951 planning permission for quarrying. The potential quarry operators have claimed that the effect of that order is to sterilise the whole of the stone reserves in the Coastal Strip and Southwell Quarry, and are seeking compensation on that basis. While this is not accepted by Dorset County Council, who consider that the reserves remain workable and viable, for the time being because of the uncertainty as to whether and when they will in fact come forward, it has been thought better to exclude the Coastal Strip and Southwell from the identified list of sites.

In addition, the site known as Stonehills Mine was inadvertently not included on the list of Portland sites at paragraph 4.64. This error will be remedied in the next version of the Mineral Sites Plan, at the Pre-Submission Stage.

Site Appraisals 2015

In 2015, the sites nominated for inclusion in the Mineral Sites Plan were assessed against a number of factors to determine whether they would be suitable sites for mineral extraction. The site appraisals for each of the site options which were shown in the Draft Mineral Sites Plan 2015 can be downloaded by following the links in the list of individual mineral types.

Background papers

You can view and download the background papers prepared for the 2015 consultation. These documents contain evidence which supports the Plan preparation:

Key issues - 2015 Consultation

Two reports were produced which assessed all the comments made to the 2015 Draft Mineral Sites Plan text and policies. An initial officer response was made to explain, where relevant, changes proposed to be made to the Plan to address issues raised. No further consultation on the text and policies contained in the Draft Minerals Sites Plan will take place.

View the officer response report containing a summary of the issues that arose to each site option, and the report on the comments to the text and policies with officer comments. These can be downloaded if required.

Amendments to the emerging plan - 2014

New site nominations during 2014

The 2013-14 consultation on the Mineral Sites Plan closed in February 2014. Subsequently, a further five mineral sites were nominated to the Mineral Planning Authority for consideration for inclusion in the Plan. These five site nominations, as with all others, were subject to detailed sustainability appraisal and other assessments.

The new sites in 2014 were:

  • Crack Lane, Langton Matravers, Purbeck: Purbeck Marble site, approximately 0.5ha. Located at the northern end of Crack Lane (north of Langton Matravers) where it meets the A351. To be worked in summer campaigns, according to demand.
  • Gallows Gore, Harmans Cross, Purbeck: Purbeck Stone site, approximately 5ha. Located approximately 150m north of B3069 and adjacent to Haycrafts Lane, south of and adjacent to previous site nomination Quarr Farm.
  • Hurst Farm, Moreton: Sand and gravel site, approximately 72ha. Located north/west of the B3390, north of Hurst Heath and south of the River Frome.
  • Station Road, Moreton: Sand and gravel site, approximately 58ha. Located south/east of the B3390 and south of Station Road.
  • White's Pit aggregate recycling facility at White's Pit Landfill Site, Arrowsmith Road, Wimborne: Located within Poole Borough Council. Existing aggregates recycling site, previously associated with restoration of the landfill site. Restoration of the landfill is now complete and the site is proposed as a 'stand-alone' aggregates recycling site.

Withdrawn site nominations - 2014

Three sites were withdrawn from inclusion in the Mineral Sites Plan in 2014.

Any site may be withdrawn at any time by the promoter. Additionally, if a site gains planning permission whilst the Mineral Sites Plan is being prepared, it will not need to be considered through the plan.

  • BCO6 - Woolsbarrow was withdrawn by the site promoter (Imerys Minerals Ltd) and will no longer be considered
  • BS01 - Manor Farm Quarry was withdrawn and will no longer be considered
  • BC02 - Dorey's (Bridewell's) has been granted planning permission and so no longer needs to be considered through the Mineral Sites Plan

Consultation on suggested sites - 2013

We undertook a period of public consultation on the Mineral Sites Plan from 19 December 2013 to 13 February 2014. This consultation included all of the sites that have been nominated by mineral companies and landowners for consideration. Our 2013 newsletter included a map showing the locations of all the suggested sites.

Key Issues - 2013 Consultation

Over 1,100 people and organisations responded to the consultation. We have prepared a summary of the issues raised through the consultation, along with our responses. To read these, please click through to the site you're interested in and a pdf will open detailing the key issues for each site.

Correction: In the Mineral Sites Plan, in the section MSP AS23 Gore Heath, within the Site Information table, the site promoters have mistakenly been stated as 'Leigh Environmental Ltd'. This should read 'Veolia Environmental Services'.

Mineral Sites Allocations Document (MSAD) - Discussion Paper - 2008 Consultation

The process for identifying sites for future mineral extraction began in 2008, when we published a Minerals Site Allocations Document (MSAD) Discussion Paper. It identified all the sites that have been suggested (by land owners and mineral operators) to be considered for inclusion in the document as future locations for quarrying.

The purpose of this initial stage of consultation was to gain feedback from a wide cross section of interested parties in the early stages of preparation.

Consultation on the MSAD took place between 17 October and 12 December 2008.

The outcomes of the consultation were reported to the Minerals and Waste Policy Joint Advisory Committee in March 2009.

Following this consultation, work on this document was put on hold in order to progress the Minerals Core Strategy ahead of the sites plan.

Landscape Assessment - 2008

A landscape and visual assessment was undertaken to assess the landscape capacity of a number of the potential sites included in the MSAD Discussion Paper to accommodate mineral development. The methodology used assessed landscape character, landscape character sensitivity and visual sensitivity to determine capacity. The study also included an assessment of potential cumulative impacts of groups of sites from two key viewpoints in Purbeck - Creech Barrow and Whiteway Viewpoint.

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