English Heritage has recently consulted on Historic Environment Good Practice Advice in Planning, which relates to the historic environment in local plans, decision-taking in the historic environment and the setting of heritage assets .
However, the UK’s Mineral Products Associaton (
Ken Hobden, Director Mineral Planning MPA, said: “It seems that English Heritage expects the planning system to protect heritage assets above all other interests, and that is not how the planning system is supposed to be operating. Sustainable development is about weighing up the positive and the adverse effects (there will always be some impacts from any form of development) and making sure that overall the development delivers a net benefit to society.
“Minerals do not just make an important contribution to the economy, the National Planning Policy Framework states that minerals are essential and that there is a need for a steady and adequate supply.”
MPA joined forces with English Heritage, professional bodies and planning officers to form the Minerals and Historic Environment Forum (MHEF) which produced Mineral Extraction and Archaeology: A Practice Guide in 2008.
However, MPA says that Practice Guide is given only one brief mention in the draft GPA, despite many of the principles which it established being applicable not just to minerals, but to all forms of development.
In complete contrast to the MHEF, the group that drafted the GPA comprised almost entirely heritage professionals.
The MPA says that unless English Heritage involves a broader range of interested parties in the production of the GPA, with a view to winning their joint endorsement to the final document, it seems unlikely that the planning system will afford much weight to what it says. That is also likely to result in a document that reflects a better balance of interests, more in accord with the delivery of sustainable development.
