Local Development Plan

Mineral Development
POLICY CONTEXT AND EVIDENCE BASE
Regional Development Strategy (RDS)
Regional Guidance (RG11) within the Regional Development Strategy
(RDS) advocates the protection and management of important geological
and geomorphological features. The Council area has a diverse range of
rocks and geomorphological features (See Appendix G, Map 8). While
selected sites require protection for their scientific, educational and
scenic value, other topographical and geological features, if sensibly
managed, can play an active role in economic development.
Strategic Planning Policy Statement for Northern Ireland (SPPS)
The SPPS recognises the contribution of the minerals industry to the
economy and quality of life, and that it serves as a valuable provider of
jobs and employment particularly in rural areas.
The regional strategic objectives for minerals development are to:
• facilitate sustainable minerals development through balancing the
need for specific minerals development proposals against the need
to safeguard the environment;
• minimise the impacts of minerals development on local
communities, landscape quality, built and natural heritage, and the
water environment; and
• secure the sustainable and safe restoration, including the
appropriate re-use of mineral sites, at the earliest opportunity.
The SPPS advises that the LDP should identify areas which should be
protected from minerals development because of their intrinsic
landscape, amenity, scientific or heritage value (normally referred to in
Development Plans as ‘Areas of Constraint’). There should be a general
presumption against minerals development in such areas.
The SPPS also advises that in preparing the LDP the Council should bring
forward appropriate policies that:
• Ensure sufficient local supplies of construction aggregates can be
made available for use within the local, and where appropriate the
regional market area and beyond, to meet likely future development
needs over the plan period;
• Safeguard mineral resources which are of economic or conservation
value, and seek to ensure that workable mineral resources are not
sterilised by other surface development which would prejudice future
exploitation; and
• Identify areas which should be protected from minerals development.
Existing Development Plan
The existing Development Plan (BMAP) provides a Countryside and Coast
Strategy which refers to Minerals. Mineral exploration and development
provides employment and necessary materials for construction in
localised areas where useful deposits occur. However, extraction and
processing can have a significant effect on the countryside. The Council
recognises the need for a sustainable approach that takes account of the
need to protect and conserve environmental resources.
Key Issues and Options 87