Minerals and waste planning policy

Minerals and waste planning policy development

As minerals and waste planning authority for Essex, we must ensure that:

• there are enough minerals for construction to meet the needs of Essex
• we provide sites for facilities to meet the waste needs of Essex

The local planning policies that govern minerals and waste development in Essex are:

• the Essex Minerals Local Plan 2014 (PDF, 8,26kB)
• the Essex and Southend-on-Sea Waste Local Plan 2017 (PDF, 10mB)

The documents form part of the statutory Development Plan for Essex. The relevant district or borough’s Local Plan is also part of this Development Plan. Those determining planning applications must refer to these documents.

We’re responsible for creating, reviewing and updating the minerals and waste planning policy documents. This includes ensuring they’re consistent with the National Planning Policy Framework on the government's site. We last confirmed consistency with a compatibility exercise (PDF, 268.51kB) in October 2021.

We develop policy using a solid evidence base. We use:

• the Strategic Environmental Assessment
• Sustainability Appraisals

This ensures we’re meeting sustainability objectives.

See the government's guide to Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisals to learn more.

Refer to our Minerals and Waste Development Framework section to find out how documents are produced.

See our Statement of Community Involvement section for details of how we engage the public and businesses in Essex in developing policy.

View our Authority Monitoring Reports to see how we monitor minerals and waste planning policies.

The National Planning Policy Framework requires all Mineral Planning Authorities to be a member of an Aggregate Working Party. Essex County Council is a member of the East of England Aggregates Working Party (EEAWP). EEAWP is administered by David Jarvis Associates Ltd on behalf of its members.