Minerals and waste local plan

The legacy Cumbria County Council minerals and waste local plan 2015 to 2030 and supporting documents, including authority monitoring reports, local aggregates assessments, waste need assessments, timetable and statement of community involvement.

Adopted Cumbria minerals and waste local plan 2015 to 2030

On 6th September 2017, Cumbria County Council adopted the Cumbria Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2015 – 2030 (PDF , 12.6MB).

The plan sets out the vision and strategy for waste management and minerals development within Cumbria outside the two National Parks.  

It identifies what minerals extraction and waste management development should go where, why they should go there and how this can make other land use and infrastructure systems function better.

It provides policies for the assessment of new minerals and waste development proposals that seek to secure good design and mitigate their impacts upon surrounding lands uses, environmental assets and the wider community.  

The Plan replaced the Cumbria Minerals and Waste Development Framework’s Core Strategy and Generic Development Control Policies documents that were adopted in 2009.

It will continue to provide the policies for minerals and waste developments within Westmorland and Furness until it is replaced by a new Westmorland and Furness Local Plan that will include policies for minerals and waste.

Contact the minerals and waste planning team:
mwlp@cumbria.gov.uk
01539 713 548

Supporting documents:

Authority monitoring reports, minerals and waste

Authority Monitoring Reports describe the progress that has been made with preparing the Minerals and Waste Development Plan documents for Cumbria against the timetable and milestones set out in the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme.  

They also consider the extent to which current development plan policies remain relevant and effective.

The most recent Authority Monitoring Report: Authority Monitoring Report 2020 to 2021 (PDF , 2.4MB)

Local aggregates assessment

The National Planning Policy Framework requires mineral planning authorities to plan for a steady and adequate supply of aggregates by preparing annual Local Aggregates Assessments

Cumbria Local Aggregates Assessment 2023 (incorporating figures for 2022) – Full Report (PDF , 3.0MB), sets out information about the sales and reserves of quarries within Cumbria.

Previously, Cumbria County Council produced a Local Aggregates Assessment jointly with the Lake District National Park Authority.

From 2023 onwards the report is produced jointly by Cumberland Council, Westmorland and Furness Council and the Lake District National Park Authority. 

Supporting documents:

Waste needs assessment

The waste needs assessment looks at how much waste is being produced and how it is currently being managed, as well as assessing what future waste management requirements are likely to be based on planned growth for the area.

It is used to identify any need for additional waste management facilities that a future review of the Local Plan would be required to address.    

Supporting documents:

Minerals and waste development scheme - local plan timetable

The Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (MWDS) (PDF , 388KB) sets out the programme for preparing and monitoring the Cumbria's Minerals and Waste Local Plan. 

The most recent Minerals and Waste Development Scheme was updated in October 2022 following completion of a review of the adopted Cumbria Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2015-2030 (which was adopted on 6 September 2017).

It takes into account the implications of Local Government Reorganisation on any future work to review and update policies, with Cumbria County Council being replaced by two new unitary authorities (Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council) on 1 April 2023.

Because policies for minerals and waste will be included in the new Westmorland and Furness Local Plan, there is no timetable for the preparation of a new Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

Statement of community involvement

The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) sets out the ways in which communities and businesses can participate in preparing or reviewing Local Development Plan documents.

The Planning Applications (Section 3) of the Minerals and Waste SCI has been superseded by the Council's new (June 2023) SCI for planning applications.

As the minerals and waste policies will be included in a new Westmorland and Furness Local Plan (rather than producing a separate minerals and waste plan) there will be no more revisions to this SCI document in respect of plan making.