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Cautious welcome for waste planning guidelines
6 December 2004
Friends of the Earth today gave a cautious welcome to new draft planning policy for waste management [1]. The new waste planning policy statement (PPS10):
emphasises the importance of two key principles that protect the environment: the waste hierarchy and the proximity principle [2];
recognises that the cumulative impact of building waste facilities should be taken into account by planning authorities;
clarifies the importance of considering health impacts when deciding the location of waste facilities.
But Friends of the Earth remains gravely concerned at the removal of an environmental cornerstone of national waste policy. The Government proposes to replace the requirement to determine the best practicable waste management option in environmental terms, known as BPEO [2].
Friends of the Earth will be working with the Government to ensure that the assessment process which replaces BPEO gives an effective voice to local communities and puts the environment at the heart of often controversial decisions about waste management facilities such as incinerators.
Claire Wilton, Friends of the Earth's senior waste campaigner, said:
The planning system must be robust enough to reject waste facilities that squander the earth's resources, are too big or in the wrong place. Communities have the responsibility to deal with their own waste so they must also have a say in how this is done. Friends of the Earth will be working with the Government to ensure that the environment is at the heart of waste decision making and local communities are fully involved.
Notes
1. Draft Planning Policy Statement 10 on Waste Planning was released on Monday 6 December 2004 in consultation form. The consultation runs until 11 March 2005. Draft papers are available on the ODPM and Defra websites:
Draft of PPS10 - http://www.odpm.gov.uk/planning
Drafts of other consultation papers - http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/wasteman-strat/index.htm
2. BPEO (best practicable environmental option) was enshrined in the old planning guidance (PPG10) and in national waste policy (Waste Strategy 2000). It has proven to be a valuable tool that ensures local authorities take environmental factors into account when deciding whether to give planning permission to waste facilities such as incinerators and recycling plants. The aim of BPEO is to ascertain the best practicable option in environmental terms. In BPEO are enshrined 2 key principles of European and domestic waste policy:
the proximity principle - according to which waste should be managed as near to the place it was produced as possible, to reduce environmental impacts;
the waste hierarchy - which puts reduction of waste, re-use and recycling above other forms of waste management including incineration and landfill.
Before BPEO was introduced, there was no requirement for these principles to be systematically considered.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jun 2008
