UK – new waste management guidance

A Joint Ministerial Statement on three new policy documents was issued by Ben Bradshaw, the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Local Environment, and Yvette Cooper, the Minister for Housing and Planning, on Sustainable Waste Management. These documents are:



· Planning Policy Statement 10 (PPS10): Planning for Sustainable Waste Management

· Guidance on the Preparation of Municipal Waste Management Strategies

· Changes to Decision-making Principles in Waste Strategy 2000



Together these provide for a more integrated and effective framework in England for delivering the significant expansion in new waste management facilities needed to meet EU obligations and national policy. We have considered very carefully the responses to the consultation documents. While a number of detailed points were made, which have been addressed in finalising the documents, the approach set out received broad support. This includes:



· greater clarity on what is required at regional and local levels: to ensure decisions are made at the most appropriate level in a timely fashion, and effective integration of spatial planning and municipal waste management strategies

· increased integration of waste management alongside other spatial planning concerns (e.g. housing and economic development)

· more emphasis on regular monitoring and review to ensure that plans and strategies are up-to-date.



The planning system is pivotal to the adequate and timely provision of the new facilities needed for all types of waste. The new PPS10 underlines the importance of planning for, and consenting, the necessary number and range of facilities to support sustainable waste management. Government expects development plans to be up-to-date and fit for purpose.



Government also expects all local authorities to have in place a fit for purpose and up-to-date Municipal Waste Management Strategy. In some areas this is a statutory requirement. The new guidance provides greater clarity on the role of strategies and the key requirements for developing and reviewing them.



The key aim of waste policy of moving waste management “up the waste hierarchy” has not changed. However, the principles of ‘‘proximity‘‘ of waste disposal and ‘‘self sufficiency‘‘ (as set out in the EU Waste Framework Directive) have been re-formulated and are now set out as objectives to be delivered through the framework provided by development plans and strategies. The objectives are that communities should take more responsibility for their own waste (self-sufficiency), and that waste should disposed of in one of the nearest appropriate installations (proximity).



The role of the Best Practicable Environmental Option process in decision-making has also been reviewed. In future, the tenets that underlie BPEO will be delivered in spatial planning through plan-led strategies that drive waste management up the waste hierarchy. These strategies, at both the regional and local level, will be subject to Sustainability Appraisal and set within the community engagement that is central to the reformed planning system. Similarly, local authorities developing municipal waste management strategies should undertake Strategic Environmental Assessment, combined with a thorough assessment of social and economic factors