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SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT
8. Efforts to reduce, reuse, recycle, compost and recover waste to meet the Landfill Directive targets are succeeding but are offset by an increase in municipal waste arisings of about 2% every year, reflecting the European trend that waste is keeping pace with rather than falling behind economic growth rates. Sustainable development in waste management turns on several principles. Paramount is the waste hierarchy, favouring prevention over reuse, recycling, recovery then disposal, guiding choices about waste management options. The polluter-pays principle applies to business waste producers who must take responsibility for the cost of collecting and disposing of their waste. The UK Government's Landfill Tax is another way in which the polluter pays principle is applied.
9. A development strategy should guide development to the most sustainable locations. 6 Coordinating the needs of economic development while safeguarding communities and fostering environmental stewardship is an important policy objective set out in the National Planning Framework ( NPF), SPP 1: The Planning System and SPP 2: Economic Development. In waste management, land use decisions will depend on the features of the proposed technology or the waste stream. The process of strategic environmental assessment ( SEA) will apply to development plans; Area Waste Plans have undergone Best Practicable Environmental Option assessments and Area Waste Plan reviews will also be subject to SEA. EIA will apply to certain development proposals; all those processes ensuring that environmental effects are considered.
WASTE MANAGEMENT, HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
10. The independent 'Review of Environmental and Health Effects of Waste Management' published by DEFRA7 so far indicates that the treatment of municipal solid waste has at most a minor effect on health in this country particularly when compared with other health risks associated with day to day living. Modern, appropriately located, well-run and well-regulated, waste management facilities operated in line with current pollution control techniques and standards should pose little risk to human health. Where concerns about health are raised, planning authorities should ensure, through their consultations and in avoiding duplication with the provisions of other legislative regimes, that they consider only the locational implications of any advice. EIA will in many cases also consider potential health impacts.
WASTE MANAGEMENT AND THE PROXIMITY PRINCIPLE
11. Additionally, to accord with the proximity principle and in line with SPP 17: Planning for Transport, waste should be transported to nearby facilities and preferably by modes other than by road. As far as possible this principle will apply at Area Waste Plan level. The proximity principle is outlined in paragraph 2.1.2 of the National Waste Plan. Environmental justice aims to address the cumulative effects of developments with negative environmental impacts, notably landfill. However, many new well regulated waste installations will have significantly lower impacts and in line with SPP 2: Economic Development, the use of brownfield sites can support social and environmental justice, by helping to stimulate enterprise in or close to disadvantaged areas. This is consistent with the Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy ( SSDS) and supports green jobs within the waste management industry. The Framework for Economic Development in Scotland 8 ( FEDS) also covers economic sustainability. Development plans that have already been subject to SEA should contain allocations of employment or industrial land well suited to a range of waste management installations. For landfill, proximity may not be the overriding principle given the trend towards a pattern of fewer but larger sites emerges. Larger landfills may have more than local importance and planning authorities should consider the justification on need provided by the applicant in the context of the relevant Area Waste Plan.
WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES
12. Modern waste infrastructure is designed and regulated to high standards and can be regarded as similar to other industrial processes. Where major waste management infrastructure is proposed close to communities, it can be regarded as an unwelcome environmental intrusion and nuisance. It is therefore crucial to provide information that can be interpreted sufficiently well to allow full participation in decisions that will affect quality of life. When preparing development plans, the Executive expects planning authorities to identify community sensitivity and look to overcome it by working closely with communities to shape policy and in allocating land uses. Bill proposals for development plan schemes include statements on the publicity and consultation measures taken during the preparation of the plan. The adequacy of consultation measures will be considered by inquiry reporters as part of the examination of the development plan on behalf of Scottish Ministers.
13. Planning reform aimed at strengthening public participation brings with it new expectations for the processing and implementation of applications. In order to build consensus early, applicants will be expected or required to undertake pre-application consultation with local communities and submit a report of consultation alongside the planning application before it is registered. The Planning Bill includes powers that would allow a planning authority to decline to register an application where a developer has not engaged adequately. Reports of consultation are considered to be appropriate for major developments; proposals that require an Environmental Impact Assessment; and proposals defined as large scale "Bad Neighbour" development which is a significant departure from the development plan. Developers and communities can then consider issues and where necessary give the developer an opportunity to alter proposals to alleviate concerns. The extent to which consultation is sufficient will be assessed by the planning authority and if appropriate the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit. Pre-determination hearings will be required for the above categories of developments.
14. For the largest installations, a community liaison or an advisory panel can be established to promote mutual understanding and to ensure that concerns are addressed properly and quickly. These may be specified in planning conditions. Good neighbour agreements ( GNAs) are intended to be voluntary and may have a role where they offer communities increased involvement with the way in which sites operate. These form part of a range of proposals for enhanced monitoring and enforcement of developments and to strengthen the involvement of communities in developments that affect them.
15. Benefits in the form of new community facilities or community trust funds offered by developers or sought by planning authorities should only be treated as material considerations in planning applications if they meet the tests set out in Circular 12/1996 on planning agreements. Other than in the case of landfill, such facilities or funds will generally be regarded as an excessive burden to an industry capable of locating on industrial sites where other operators or tenants are free from such costs and where installations can meet or exceed environmental emissions standards.
PROXIMITY TO SETTLEMENTS
16. Waste should be handled as close as possible to source. It follows that towns and cities will be the best locations for new waste transfer, separation and handling installations. Appropriate sites should be identified through the development plan process. Existing waste handling installations should be protected by development plan policy and care should be taken to ensure that future allocations for other uses nearby do not compromise waste handling operations, which may operate 24 hours a day and partly outside buildings.
17. The case for consideration of a buffer zone between sensitive receptors and operations may arise at outdoor composting sites where 250 metres may be sufficient; less if mitigated for example by spray curtains. However buffer zones arise predominantly in connection with landfill sites which may bear the characteristics of mineral operations which may have preceded them. This SPP specifies no set distance. Cumulative impacts from landfill sites are considered at paragraphs 43-44.
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