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Planning Advice Note: PAN 63
Waste Management Planning
Introduction
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Purpose |
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1. This Planning Advice Note (PAN) complements National
Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 10: Planning and Waste Management.
It also builds on the information given on land use planning for waste
management in the National Waste Strategy: Scotland (NWS). The purpose
of this PAN is to:
- Provide advice on a sustainable approach and change of emphasis from
waste disposal to integrated waste management;
- Assist planning authorities in ensuring that development plans reflect
the land use requirements for the delivery of an integrated network
of waste management facilities;
- Provide a basis for more informed consideration of development proposals
for waste management facilities;
- Enable planning authorities to implement the emerging and future Area
Waste Plans; and
- Provide developers seeking planning permission for waste management
facilities with advice on the issues taken into consideration when determining
applications.
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The Waste Management Policy Perspective |
The text of EC Directives is available
at http://europa.eu.int/eur-
lex/en/search_lif_simple.html |
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2. The European Community (EC) Framework Directive on Waste
and the EC Landfill Directive set out a common framework for action on waste
by the Community’s member states. The Framework Directive sets out
a strategic approach to waste management that protects human health and
the environment by establishing an integrated network of waste facilities.
The aim is for the EC to be more self-sufficient and to deal with waste
as close as possible to its point of origin. The aim is also to promote
waste avoidance and to recover as much as possible of the waste produced
through recycling, reclamation and energy recovery. |
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3. The Landfill Directive’s main objectives are to reduce
methane emissions, ensure high standards for the disposal of waste within
the EC and stimulate recycling and recovery of waste and energy. To reduce
the emissions of methane gas, the Directive contains a target for the UK
to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill
to 35% of the 1995 levels by 2020. Scotland’s contribution to this
target has yet to be finalised. |
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4. In that context, the Scottish Executive adopted the NWS
prepared by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in 1999. It
provides a framework to reduce the amount of waste produced and to deal
with waste in more sustainable ways. The NWS, and the EC Directives underlying
it, require that councils, in their role as both waste management authorities
and planning authorities act in a new way and move from waste disposal to
integrated waste management. Responsibility for implementing this new approach
applies to all those who produce or manage waste - from private individuals
to the business community, the voluntary sector, other public and private
sector organisations and local authorities. |
| Further information on the National
Waste Strategy and developing AWPs is available at http://www.sepa.org.uk/nws/ |
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5. Following the adoption of the NWS, 11 Area Waste Plans (AWPs) are
being developed to provide locally based framework documents for the strategic
planning of an integrated network of waste management facilities. AWPs
are being prepared by waste strategy area groups including local authorities,
the waste industry, enterprise agencies and community and environment
interests in a process facilitated by SEPA. SEPA Supporting Guidance
for Area Waste Plans identifies the need for wide stakeholder consultation
and notes that AWPs will seek to:
- Detail the types of facilities required for the sustainable management
of controlled wastes in Waste Strategy Areas;
- Demonstrate that these facilities are the Best Practicable Environmental
Option (BPEO) for the area, in terms of the economic, social, environmental
and human health issues;
- Serve as a material consideration for the planning system;
- Provide guidance for Local Authority Integrated Waste Plans;
- Provide a framework for identifying the needs of industrial waste
producers;
- Establish a context for investment confidence;
- Promote better integration and understanding between all the key stakeholders
in the Waste Strategy Area;
- Improve transparency and public confidence in decision making;
- Provide a Framework for ‘Target Trading’; and
- Provide a focus for Priority Waste Stream Projects and the national
research and development programme.
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Other Forces for Change |
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6. Although not directly connected to land use planning and waste issues,
there are several other forces for change in waste management including:
- Landfill Tax;
- Aggregates Levy;
- Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) (Scotland) Regulations 2000;
- Local Agenda 21;
- Community Planning;
- Future EC and UK legislation, for example on farm waste;
- Renewables Obligation (Scotland);
- Potential adaptation strategies for climate change in Scotland (Scottish
Executive 2001); and
- Best Value.
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7. Owing to the changing nature of these issues, this PAN
does not set them out in detail. However, planning authorities and developers
should keep abreast of developments as they are likely to influence the
planning and waste functions of local authorities. |
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