Agenda item

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, on the Merseyside and Halton Joint Waste Development Plan - Publication and Submission Stages document (Waste DPD).

            The Board was reminded that the 6 week consultation period on the Preferred Options 2 (New Sites) Consultation ended on 20 June 2011. The scope of the consultation was limited to only four new sites proposed for allocation for waste management use. Detailed feedback was contained in Appendix 1 which highlighted key issues raised against each of the sites.

            As a result of the consultation, all four sites would be included within the publication of the Waste DPD, alongside those moving forward from Preferred Options 1 stage. This would give a total of six sub-regional sites, 13 local sites proposed as allocations, and 2 inert landfill sites. 

            The Board was advised that the Publication Stage of the Waste DPD would be the final 6-week consultation stage whereby the consultees could submit comments based on “soundness matters”, which related to technical content or procedural matters. Publication Consultation was planned to start in November 2011, followed by submission of the Waste DPD to the Secretary of State for formal examination.

Reason(s) for Decision

Government policy (PPS10) required that waste must be dealt with in a sustainable way. The Council was producing a Joint Waste Development Plan Document (DPD) for the Merseyside sub-region. Drafting of the Plan had reached the stage where the policy framework contained in the Waste DPD needed to be subject to public scrutiny.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

The Waste DPD had been prepared through a multi-stage process.  Four previous public consultation stages had been completed and these were detailed in section 5.7.

These reports document the evolution of the Plan and the options for policies and sites that had been considered and rejected. The results of the public consultation, engagement with stakeholders, industry and the Local Authorities and, detailed technical assessments had all been used to inform the preparation of this Report, forming a fifth and final public consultation stage. The Preferred Options stage reports set out the alternative options considered.

Implementation Date

The Joint Merseyside Waste DPD was scheduled to be adopted by all six partner Districts in November 2012.

            RESOLVED: That Council be recommended to

1)                 note the results of consultation (Appendix 1) undertaken between May and June 2011 on the Waste DPD Preferred Options 2 (New Sites) Report;

2)                 approve the Joint Waste DPD Publication Document (Appendix 2) and a final six-week public consultation commencing at the end of 2011;

3)         approve the Submission of the Waste DPD to the Secretary of State in early 2012 and that this approval be subject to the detailed comment in paragraph 3.19;

4)         approve the spatial distribution of one sub-regional site per district (Table 2 and paragraph 4.11); and

5)         give delegated authority to the Operational Director, Policy, Planning and Transportation, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, Physical Environment, to make any minor drafting amendments to the Waste DPD.