Proposed Submission Draft Minerals Site Allocation DPD – Consultation Minerals sites in Wiltshire and Swindon

Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council have jointly published the Proposed Submission draft Aggregate Minerals Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) for a final round of formal consultation, along with a series of evidence reports[1].

The Proposed Submission draft Aggregate Minerals Site Allocations DPD responds to comments received through previous rounds of consultation in 2010 and sets out a series of proposals for locating 7 new sand and gravel quarries within the plan area[2]  to meet the councils’ locally derived forecast provision requirements of 1.2 million tonnes per annum through the plan period up to 2026. The DPD has been developed with a restoration led approach at its heart (seeking biodiversity and amenity enhancements not the landfilling of putrescible waste), advocating upfront consideration of suitable after uses for the minerals sites in the document. Details of these sites are presented below.

Proposed minerals site name/location	Size of site hectares (ha)	Estimated resource yield	Current land use	Community Area
Cox’s Farm	106.1	2,400,000	Agricultural	Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade
Blackburr Farm	49.7	812,000	Agricultural
North Farm	75.6	300,000	Agricultural
Land east of Calcutt	172.6	2,200,000	Agricultural
Land at Cotswold Community	38.56	2,760,000	Agricultural/ former educational and residential facility	Malmesbury
Land near Compton Bassett	23.4	450,000	Agricultural	Calne
Extensions to Brickworth Quarry	25.2	1,948,000	Agricultural/ Woodland	South Wiltshire

The Proposed Submission draft Aggregate Minerals Site Allocations DPD and evidence base documents will be available for comment throughout the 6-week consultation period running from the 30 January to 12 March 2012. The Council encourages anyone wishing to view and comment on the consultation documents to use the council’s consultation website:

For those without access to a computer, hard copies of the documents can be viewed in the Council’s offices in Chippenham (Monkton Park), Devizes (Browfort), Salisbury (Milford Street) and Trowbridge (County Hall and Bradley Road) and Swindon Borough Council (Wat Tyler House) as well as all local libraries.

Once the consultation period has closed, the Proposed Submission draft Aggregate Minerals Site Allocations DPD, supporting evidence base and all comments received during the consultation will be presented to Full Council for final approval, before being submitted to the Secretary of State in June/July 2012. From that point, the document will be in the independent examination process.

For further information please contact the Minerals and Waste Policy Team (Economy and Enterprise) at Wiltshire Council by telephone (01225 713429) or email:.

---

[1] For minerals and waste matters, Wiltshire Council prepares its policy framework jointly with Swindon Borough Council.

[2] For minerals planning, the plan area delineates the boundary of Wiltshire and Swindon, excluding the New Forest.