Strategic Policy 9.2: Sustainable Minerals Development

To facilitate sustainable minerals development in the Borough, the Council will balance the need for a specific development against the need to safeguard local communities and the environment against the potential adverse impacts of such development. This will be achieved by: (a) Identifying and protecting minerals reserves that are demonstrated to be of economic importance to the Borough; (b) Operating a presumption against unconventional hydrocarbon extraction, until such times as there is sufficient and robust evidence regarding all the potential environmental impacts of such extraction; (c) Operating a presumption against minerals development that would affect the following environmentally sensitive sites/designations unless it can be demonstrated, that there is a regional need for the proposed mineral that outweighs the importance of the site: Strategic Landscape Policy Areas; Coastal Policy Area; Registered Historic Parks, Gardens and Demesnes; and Sites of nature conservation importance (International, National and Local sites); and (d) Supporting other proposals for minerals development where these accord with the provisions of Policy DM 43.