The country is in a mess, but the Mineral Products Association, the trade body representing Aggregate Industries et al., is calling on the next government to spare some time for minerals, and streamline the planning process to make it easier for operators to trash our green and pleasant land, lamenting:
Planning is hugely onerous for quarry operators putting pressure on the availability of resources. For example, for every 100 tonnes of sand and gravel extracted for use in UK construction, permission is granted for just 62 tonnes of new reserves – an unsustainable replenishment rate. The availability and supply of domestic mineral resources must not be assumed. Streamlining the planning system for minerals will be essential in the next Parliament, especially if parties include ambitious housing targets and infrastructure commitments in their manifestos.
The problem with that old chestnut, the unsustainable replenishment rate argument, is that the situation has been the same for years, yet we don’t hear builders crying that they’ve run out of sand or gravel.
According to BGS figures, during the 10 year period from 1995 to 2004, 27% of sales of sand and gravel in England were not replaced by new permissions.
Why has construction not collapsed between then and now? Because sales of primary or virgin sand and gravel are in decline, and have been so for years – as the figures for Devon bear out, where annual sales are less than a third of what they were in 1990.
