Full text:
Introduction and Background
Representations to the above consultation are made on behalf of our clients Tarmac Trading Limited and Tarmac Building Products Limited (Tarmac). Tarmac operate two Readymix (RMX) Plants and a Dry Silo Mortar (DSM) Plant situated off Cornets End Lane, Meriden. All Tarmac plants are strategically important for the supply of mineral product to serve local, regional and national construction needs.
Both RMX plants have permanent planning consent for their continued operation. Planning permission has recently been granted to replace one of the RMX plants to supply HS2. On completion of that contract, the RMX site will revert to serving local construction markets.
Dry silo mortar is a specialised construction material comprised of kiln dried materials and is supplied direct to market in sealed silos, which are typically transported by road. The materials (sand, cement, pigment and additives) at the plant are blended in accordance with each customer’s bespoke requirements. The DSM plant is of national strategic importance. The operation of the DSM plant is time limited to working of the adjacent Meriden Quarry site.
DSM is ideal for housing and commercial developments alike, particularly at larger sites which require larger mortar volumes produced under rigorous factory-controlled conditions. There is no need for onsite mixing given the requisite materials are already contained within a sealed silo
and the required volumes can be produced as and when necessary. This ensures consistency of
mortar colour for the whole construction project and helps to minimise waste caused by adverse
weather conditions when compared with other mortar products (it is mixed as and when
required as opposed to deliveries of wet mix to sites). Such is the specialist nature of the product
that there are understood to be only twenty DSM plants located within the entirety of the United
Kingdom. Tarmac operate five of these plants in the following locations:
• Colchester, Essex;
• Meriden, Solihull;
• Glasgow, Scotland;
• Leeds, West Yorkshire; and
• Croxden, Staffordshire.
In the last five years, sales of DSM have doubled whilst the number of sites has not increased
proportionately. Although aggregate workings generally have a defined market area, DSM plants
do not, owing to the specialist nature of the product and limited locations across the United
Kingdom. The result of this is that one site may supply a number of areas across different
administrative boundaries. For example, Tarmac’s Meriden site is of national importance forming
a key part of the DSM network, supplying customer needs in location as far as Kent, East Sussex,
West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, North and South Wales and East Anglia.
Tarmac supplies two of the top three UK housing developers, a key strategy is to maintain
continuity of supply to sustain and meet future demands for a growing national housing market.
Both the RMX and DSM plants are supplied by sand from the nearby Meriden Quarry and
Berkswell Quarry sites. In addition, sand is imported from Shireoak Quarry (Walsall) for blending
with sand from Meriden Quarry to make it suitable for the DSM process. Whilst fine sand is an
important mineral resource it is not suitable for use as an aggregate required for production of
ready mixed concrete. These quarries are used as they are a local resource, and they produce a
distinctive and popular colour to the mortar.
The Local Plan Consultation
All Tarmac plant sites situated at Cornets End Lane are within land designated on the emerging
Plan Policy map as ‘Mineral Safeguarding Areas’ and ‘Areas of Search for Waste Management
Facilities’. They are in proximity to land designated as ‘Preferred Areas for Minerals
Development’. This whole area is designated Green Belt.
Emerging Policy P17 (Countryside and Green Belt) seeks to retain land permanently open unless
very special circumstances have been demonstrated in accordance with the NPPF. Part 4 of the
policy identifies very special circumstances which may be considered when assessing proposals
for ‘inappropriate’ development. One of those very special circumstances for development is the
provision of waste management operations, providing that the development accords with the
waste management policy of the plan. Waste Management development is to be determined in
accordance with the requirements of Policy P12 (Resource Management).
Part 3 of Policy P12 identifies the strategy for waste provision and the sites preferred for waste
management and uses. The policy seeks to ensure that an equivalent tonnage is provided for
within waste management facilities to that arising within the Borough. To achieve this, a
sequential approach is proposed to determine the appropriate location for new waste
management facilities as follows:
i. On-site management
ii. Consolidation or expansion at strategic waste management sites
iii. Suitable industrial areas or sites allocated for industrial or employment uses
iv. Co-location of complementary waste management operations at Berkswell and
Meriden quarries
v. Area of Search for waste management facilities.
Part 5 to Policy P12 identifies strategically important waste management sites within the
Borough, where waste management activities will be supported in principle. These sites include
the site of the former Arden Brickworks in Bickenhill, which contains the household waste
recycling centre, and a range of other waste management operations, the materials recovery
facilities at Berkswell and Meriden Quarries, the composting facilities in Berkswell, and the Moat
Lane and Chapelhouse Depot waste transfer stations in the Mature Suburbs and North Solihull.
As identified above, these preferred areas for new waste management facilities are collocated
with mineral development at Berkswell and Meriden Quarries. Some of which have permanent
consent. The justification for allowing permanent forms of waste development that would go
against the principles of maintaining openness in the Green Belt is objectively assessed need for
waste capacity and the difficulty in finding suitable locations for such uses on land not designated
as Green Belt. In addition to proximity to demand/need, the highway network and the ability of
these areas to accommodate the traffic generated.
With consideration of potential/future waste facilities, the emphasis is on managing indigenous
requirements (equivalent tonnage within waste management facilities to that arising). It is
Tarmac’s view that objectively assessed need for mineral development and associated
infrastructure needs have been overlooked. The existing facilities contribute significantly to local,
regional and national need. This goes far beyond only the local requirements within the Borough
that are the necessary exception tests for new waste development. As a result the support and
retention of minerals associated development should hold equal weight if not greater weight
within these areas. The LAA (2015) identifies, ‘the main issue for local plans is to ensure that the
role of the existing network of manufacturing plants is recognised’ (paragraph 3.5.5 Heatons
emphasis). Although these facilities are safeguarded under minerals policy, their importance and
role should be given elevated status and recognition within the Plan.
Very special circumstances precedent has already been accepted/demonstrated in the case of
permanent waste management operations permitted adjacent to the Tarmac’s existing
operations. The early review of the Plan has been triggered by the need for Solihull to find land
to meet its own housing needs, as well as helping to address the housing shortfall occurring in
the wider Housing Market Area. The growth/development plans in Solihull and the West
Midlands create such a substantial long-term need for aggregate and aggregate related products
- that will, by virtue of the location of the Meriden sand and gravel Area of Search, involve mineral
extraction and associated infrastructure in the Green Belt for the duration of the plan period –
such that these considerations substantially outweigh the level of potential harm to the Green
Belt. Particularly as these are facilities already in situ and have been for a number of years. They
are not new development further encroaching on the Green Belt.
In view of the above comments, it is considered that the policy relating to Resource Management
(P12) and exceptions within the Green Belt (P17) is not an effective or positively prepared
strategy for managing mineral product supply over the Plan period. The policy should also give
due consideration to the need and support for the permanent retention of mineral infrastructure
to meet anticipated demand as well as maintaining existing supply. It is questioned whether this
area being retained as Green Belt is appropriate given the proximity to land being released to
accommodate large scale development, historic industrial activity as well as the long term
strategy for waste management/industrial uses being accepted in this area.
Policy P13 identifies, ‘Mineral Safeguarding Areas (MSAs) for sand and gravel aggregate
resources between Berkswell, Hampton and Meriden and east of the NEC and M42, including
sites for important associated infrastructure and to meet potential needs are defined on the
Policies Map’. As drafted Policy P13 is not in accordance with the NPPF. The NPPF paragraph
204c states that planning policies should safeguard mineral resources. The policy reads as though
safeguarding of mineral resource is only applicable to the above identified areas and shown
designated on the policies map. The approach to resource safeguarding should cover the whole
Plan area and the policy wording and associated mapping should not exclusively identify
resource in only one specific area.
Part 9 of Policy P13 states that, proposals for ancillary uses will be permitted where they are
located within the extraction site, are limited to the life of the permitted reserves and minimise
the impacts on environmental assets, transport infrastructure and surrounding occupiers and
uses. The Council will support proposals for complementary recycling facilities, which should be
as close as possible to the point of extraction or disposal’. The above comments have clearly
demonstrated that the minerals infrastructure already in place (some of which have permanent
consent) are essential to meeting the objectively assessed need for mineral products over the
Plan period. Policy P13 should remove reference to limiting the life of ancillary activities to the
life of reserves in order to be positively prepared to manage forecasted demand for mineral
product. If there are clear exceptional circumstances, including objectively assessed need for
mineral development and mineral related product, these should not be life limited.
