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The Environmental Planning Service promotes the highest standards of design and development to enhance Cheshire's environment.
To achieve this, the following activities are undertaken:
Minerals and Waste Planning
Recommendations and decisions made on minerals and waste planning applications must promote the highest standards of design and development and include suitable measures for the protection of the environment.
The Environmental Planning Service assesses an average of 35 planning applications a year relating to quarrying and waste disposal, handling or treatment. These developments could be for anything from a new construction sand site covering 50 hectares of agricultural land to a farm-based composting facility that receives 'green waste' (e.g. garden waste such as hedge cuttings, grass cuttings) from urban areas.
Fact: 95 per cent of the salt spread on the UK's roads each winter comes from the rock salt mine in Winsford.
Fact: In the last 5 years the Environmental Planning Service has reviewed the planning permissions at 12 old quarries, bringing them up to modern standards
County Council Planning Development
The Council itself is certainly not immune from planning restrictions. When it submits a planning application for a new development it too is subject to the same rigorous design and environmental controls
An average of 75 such planning applications are received from departments acres the Council each year, including, for example, Social Services, the Engineering Service, and any of the Council-owned farms.
Fact: The council does not deal with planning applications for residential, commercial or industrial development. The six district councils handle these.
The service seeks the advice of many experts in determining planning applications, e.g. nature conservation, landscape and forestry, environmental engineering and archaeology.
These specialists carry out an independent assessment of the proposed development before the Service makes a recommendation to the Council.
Strategic Consultations
The Environmental Planning Service is continually asked to comment on the larger scale implications of planned developments within the Cheshire district authorities and adjoining authorities' boundaries
Site Monitoring and Complaints
The service also operates a site monitoring regime and a third party complaints system.
The site monitoring regime continually checks that 25 operational mineral sites and 67 operational waste management facilities across Cheshire are abiding by the conditions of their planning permission.
These conditions cover anything from the number of HGV's allowed to visit the site each day to the hours it is allowed to operate.
Fact: An average of 2.5 million tonnes of construction sand is produced in Cheshire each year.
Fact: Once mineral extraction ends, a quarry must be restored and managed for at least five years. In the past such sites have been restored for agricultural use and even turned into a commercial woodland or a nature conservation site.
The Service also responds to any complaints from members of the public regarding unauthorised activities. This mainly relates to the disposal of waste without planning permission.
The Service plays an important role in ensuring that any development at Manchester Airport is undertaken in an environmentally friendly way. It audits the airport to make sure the impact of operations as a result of the construction of the second runway.
Regular meetings take place via various liaison committee meetings covering issues such as noise, ground transport, ecology and air quality.
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