PLY5 - Sustainable use of Plymouth's mineral resources

The Plymouth LPA working together with adjoining local minerals authorities will help to support and facilitate the sustainable use of mineral reserves of national and local importance, subject also to safeguarding the City's growth agenda, its environmental quality and the quality of life of local people. This will be achieved by:

1. As far as practicable, prioritising the use of recycled and secondary aggregates, including those derived from construction and demolition waste, before the quarrying of primary aggregates. 
2. Identifying Mineral Safeguarding Areas in mineral resource areas so that the long term minerals are not needlessly sterilised.
3. Safeguarding key minerals related infrastructure and facilities needed to support the handling, processing and distribution of mineral resources.
4. The use of planning conditions and legal obligations to ensure the timely high quality restoration and aftercare of mineral sites once they have been worked out. The restoration will be required to make a positive contribution to geo- and biodiversity, native woodland, the historic environment and recreation, and, where possible, recreate and/or restore wildlife habitats.
5. Permitting small scale quarrying for conservation and heritage asset restorations where it can be demonstrated that there are no alternative workable resources and where amenity and environmental considerations can be met.
6. Ensuring that environmental controls and mitigation measures, as appropriate, are put in place in relation to each operation to ensure that development does not give rise to significant loss of amenity or unacceptable harmful impacts on the environment. Open cast mining and other minerals operations that cannot be achieved without causing unacceptable environmental and amenity impacts will not be supported.