More from Less
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Need for New InfrastructureThis section considers the new infrastructure and
sites that will be needed to deliver the proposals set out in this
document. It discusses the issues that need to be addressed in
identifying and implementing these facilities in a way which balances
the interests of the individual versus society. These matters, as well
as suitable sites for the location of these facilities, will be
developed in the Minerals and Waste Development Framework. Land-won Minerals Potential sites for sand and gravel should be evaluated having regard to:
There is an urgent need to identify new preferred areas for sand and gravel extraction in order to achieve the minimum landbank requirement of seven years at the current apportionment.
Exploitation of new deeper reserves in the east English Channel will require a new fleet of bigger dredging ships and the majority of existing wharves will not be able to accommodate such ships. There is a need to ensure that sufficient and appropriately located wharf capacity is available to meet or increase current levels of demand for the landing of marine aggregates.
In order to bring about the step-change in approach that we want to see, a range of new recycling, reprocessing and recovery facilities as outlined in the sections on Maximising Reuse, Recycling and Composting; Dealing with Unavoidable waste; and Meeting the Need for Minerals will be needed. Some of these are likely to involve new types of activity like demanufacturing, anaerobic digestion and gasification whilst others will be for operations like transfer stations, material recovery facilities and energy recovery incinerators that we have now. As many recycling activities are likely to be at best marginal in economic terms, the ready availability of suitable affordable sites is a critical requirement. In summary, it is estimated that major new facilities within the following indicative ranges are likely to be required over the period to 2020:
These estimates do not include smaller scale facilities (typically less than 25,000 tonnes per annum) like new Household Waste Recycling Centre sites and very local sites dealing with commercial and industrial wastes. The timing of the requirement for new facilities will be dependent on a range of factors, not least how quickly the matching of new legislation, environmental taxes and behaviour change can be delivered. It will also be influenced by closure dates for old sites (e.g. landfills) requiring alternative facilities to be brought on stream. Undertake detailed research for all types of infrastructure required, including considering ‘strategic’ and ‘smaller’ CD&E waste recycling facilities separately, to identify capacity needs both spatially and over time.
It is important that new recycling and recovery facilities are provided in an efficient way. This is likely to mean larger more strategic facilities, close to the two main areas where waste materials arise, namely:
11.10 An option that should be progressed is the concept of ‘resource recovery parks’ where recycling, recovery and other appropriate activities and industries are clustered together in several locations on dedicated ‘industrial estate’ type sites. There are a number of key factors that will influence the size, location and clustering of sites:
We should also take advantage of opportunities to develop sub-regional facilities where this offers economies of scale and is the most efficient solution in the overall community interest in maximising tonnages and reducing costs (subject to the proximity principle). For example, parts of North East Hampshire could be expected to link with urban areas outside Hampshire, such as Newbury, Reading, Guildford and Woking. We need to work together with adjacent counties to ensure that respective policies and plans are complementary and to develop joint initiatives and infrastructure. This will require strong political leadership and there may be practical difficulties in achieving joint solutions. It will increasingly be important to give careful consideration to the precise siting of major resource recovery facilities so that the energy recovery potential can be maximised. This could be achieved by supplying district heating or heat to industrial processes. There is a great risk of these accrued benefits being lost if advantage is not taken of linking new facilities to new developments such as Major Development Areas and other such locations that may be brought forward in the South East Plan. If this does not happen, overall benefits such as integration to minimise transport and the opportunity to engage the local community in a closed-loop system for its benefit will be missed. However, in many of these issues there is no direct control over the private sector. It is also necessary to consider opportunities to maximise transport efficiency (i.e. by rail and/or sea) when identifying sites for major new facilities. This is particularly important in respect of recycling activities involving globally or nationally traded materials that may have to be hauled long distances for reprocessing. Whilst key strategic facilities will be needed in the M27 corridor and North East Hampshire, other smaller and more local facilities may be needed. More investigation should be carried out to determine the broad spatial requirements for the small/local facilities. Some activities such as composting, landfill and wood recycling lend themselves, by their nature, to more rural locations. Such facilities will probably need to be served by a network of sorting and transfer facilities in or adjacent to urban areas. Recycling of construction materials could be carried out on existing mineral and landfill sites provided they were temporary in nature and did not unduly delay site restoration. Not all materials and waste facilities will need to be identified via the Minerals and Waste Development Framework. Many of the smaller less strategic facilities can be left to market forces to deliver, applications being assessed on their merits against criteria stipulated in the plan. Such sites should:
As set out in the section on Dealing with Unavoidable Waste some landfill will be essential with an estimated 4 to 8 sites being needed over the period to 2020. In the case of landfill sites for inert waste (construction, demolition and excavation), opportunities for innovative local solutions such as landscaping and flood defences should be investigated to reduce transport distances.
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