MPA welcomes planning support

The UK’s 2897 Mineral Products Association (MPA) has said that it welcomes government confirmation that there is a need for the future mineral planning system to operate so that sufficient aggregates are made available to support economic growth and development. The MPA has been campaigning for a strategic approach to aggregates planning can and needs to be incorporated into the ‘localism’ agenda over the last 18 months.

The MPA submitted evidence to the Communities and Local Government Committee on the Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies at the end of 2010.  The Committee’s subsequent report (28 February 2011) acknowledged the MPA’s evidence and recommended the retention of certain key elements of the Managed Aggregate Supply System (MASS).

On 23 June 2011, the Government stated its support for the Committee’s recommendation (Para.22 - Government Response to the Communities and Local Government Committee’s Report Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies: a planning vacuum): “Mineral planning authorities will have responsibility for continuing to plan for an adequate and steady supply of aggregate minerals to support economic growth, and they should do this within the longstanding arrangements for minerals planning. This includes receiving technical advice from Aggregate Working Parties, whose members include officers from mineral planning authorities and the minerals industry. 4459 DCLG is working with the minerals industry and local government to agree how aggregate minerals planning arrangements should operate in the longer term.”

The MPA believes that it is essential that the emerging National Planning Policy Framework recognises the important role that the MASS has performed over the last 35 years and could continue to fulfil in the future as a vital component of a more ‘localist’ approach to strategic planning for aggregates supply.