Essex County Council is the local planning authority for minerals and waste. The Minerals and Waste Development scheme outlines the development plan documents, as well as non-development documents (such as the Statement of Community Involvement) that will be produced by the council in its role as the local planning authority.

The Minerals and Waste Development scheme provides a timetable for the development of the new Minerals Development Document (MDD) and Waste Development Documents (WDDs). Once completed and adopted, these will form the policy documents that underpin minerals and waste planning decisions within Essex.

The MDD will comprise:

• A Minerals core strategy, including:
  
• development management policies 
  
• site allocations
  

The WDD will comprise:

• A Waste core strategy (WCS), including:
  
• development management policies 
  
• site allocations
  

And

• A Non-strategic waste site allocations document (NSSAD)

The timetable lays out key stages for the production of the various documents that comprise the MDD and WDDs and is revised on a regular basis to help inform the public as to when they can expect the release of documents for consultation.

At each stage of production, these documents will be open for public consultation. The consultations portal contains open and most recent consultations, and all previous consultations and associated materials are archived.