§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Tony McNulty)The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has today published the following revised regional guidelines for the amount of rock and sand and gravel to be produced for use in construction to 2016. These replace guidelines contained Minerals Planning Guidance Note 6 (MPG6), 'Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England', published in April 1994. The policy sections 49WS of MPG6 remain in force pending the outcome of public consultation on a revised text, which will take place later this year.
The new figures are about 19 per cent. lower nationally than the previous guidelines, published in 1994, although there may be regional and local variations from that average. They reflect up-to-date information in the patterns of supply and demand, the extent of use of recycled and alternative materials, and projections of the requirements of the construction industries. A new target of 60 million tonnes per annum is set for the use of recycled materials and industrial by-products in place of natural aggregates by 2011, building on a 63 per cent. increase in the use of these materials since the 1994 guidelines were issued.
Over the next six months, the Regional Planning Bodies, in association with the Mineral Planning Authorities, will consider how the guidelines should be broken down to local level, taking environmental implications into account, and then applied in regional and local plans.
The Government will regularly monitor the operation of these new guidelines.
Copies of the guidelines are available in the Library of the House.
National and Regional Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England, 2001–2016 (million tonnes) Guidelines for land-won production Assumptions New Regions Land-won Sand & Gravel Land-won Crushed Rock Marine Sand & Gravel Alternative Materials Net Imports to England South East England 212 35 120 118 85 London 19 0 53 82 6 East of England 256 8 32 110 8 East Midlands 165 523 0 95 0 West Midlands 162 93 0 88 16 South West 106 453 9 121 4 NorthWest 55 167 4 101 50 Yorkshire & the Humber 73 220 3 128 0 North East 20 119 9 76 0 England 1068 1618 230 919 169