Town and Country Planning (Minerals) Act 1981
| Year | 1981 |
Town and Country Planning(Minerals) Act 1981
1981 CHAPTER 36
An Act to make amendments relating to the winning and working of minerals in the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 and the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 and amendments relating to rights for the purpose of the conveyance of minerals in section 2 of the Mines (Working Facilities and Support) Act 1966; and for connected purposes.
[27th July 1981]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
England and Wales
General definitions relating to mineral working
1 Meaning of ‘development’.
(1) The following subsection shall be inserted after subsection (3) of section 22 (meaning of ‘development’ and ‘new development’) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971—
(3A) For the purposes of this Act mining operations include—
(a ) the removal of material of any description—
(i) from a mineral-working deposit;
(ii) from a deposit of pulverised fuel ash or other furnace ash or clinker; or
(iii) from a deposit of iron, steel or other metallic slags; and
(b ) the extraction of minerals from a disused railway embankment.’.
(2) The following subsection shall be inserted after section 264(1) of that Act (power to modify Act in relation to minerals)—
(1A) In this Act—
‘development consisting of the winning and working of minerals’ includes the extraction of minerals from a mineral-working deposit; and
‘mineral-working deposit’ means any deposit of material remaining after minerals have been extracted from land or otherwise deriving from the carrying out of operations for the winning and working of minerals in, on or under land.’.
2 Distribution of planning functions.
(1) The following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 32 of Schedule 16 to the Local Government Act 1972 (by virtue of which applications, orders and notices relating to certain operations for the winning and working of minerals in, on or under land are included among county matters)—
32A
‘32A. In paragraph 32 above ‘the winning and working of minerals’ includes the extraction of minerals from a mineral-working deposit, as defined in section 264(1A).’.
(2) The following subsection shall be inserted after section 1(2A) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 (local planning authorities)—
(2B) In this Act ‘mineral planning authority’ means, in respect of any site outside Greater London, the county planning authority within whose area it is situated.’.
(3) The following shall be inserted after paragraph 4A of Schedule 3 to that Act (local planning authorities in Greater London)—
‘The mineral planning authority
4B
4B. In this Act ‘mineral planning authority’ means, in respect of any site in Greater London, the authority who are the local planning authority in respect of the class of development in question in the area in which the site is situated.’.
(4) In paragraph 24 of Schedule 16 to the Local Government Act 1972 (which provides for the distribution of certain functions, including the service of enforcement notices under section 87 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 and stop notices under section 90 of that Act, between the district planning authority and the county planning authority)—
(a ) in sub-paragraph (1), for the words ‘sub-paragraph (2)’ there shall be substituted the words ‘sub-paragraphs (2) to (4)’;
(b ) in sub-paragraph (3), for the word ‘Those’ there shall be substituted the words ‘Subject to sub-paragraph (4) below, those’; and
(c ) the following sub-paragraph shall be added after that sub-paragraph:—
(4) In relation to a matter which is a county matter by virtue of any of the provisions of paragraph 32(a ) to (cd ) below the functions of a local planning authority specified in sub-paragraph (1)(b ) above shall only be exercisable by the county planning authority in their capacity as mineral planning authority.’.
Reviews of workings
3 Periodical reviews of mineral workings.
3. The following section shall be inserted after section 264 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971—
264A ‘Duty of planning authorities to review mineral workings.
(1) It shall be the duty of every mineral planning authority—
(a ) to undertake at such intervals as they consider fit reviews of every site in their area in, on or under which operations for the winning and working of minerals—
(i) are being carried out; or
(ii) have been carried out at any time during the relevant period; or
(iii) are authorised by planning permission but have not been begun; and
(b ) to make in respect of any such site any order under section 45, 51, 51A or 51B of this Act that they consider appropriate.
(2) In subsection (1) of this section ‘the relevant period’, in relation to a review, means the period of five years preceding the date of the beginning of the review or such other period as may be prescribed.’.
Miscellaneous amendments
4 Notification of applications for planning permission.
(1) The following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph (c of that Act (which precludes a local planning authority from entertaining an application for planning permission unless it is accompanied by the appropriate certificate)—
‘(cc ) in the case of an application for planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of minerals by underground mining operations, a certificate stating—
(iii) that he has complied with subsection (2A) of this section and when he did so;’.
(2) The following subsections shall be inserted after that subsection—
(1A) Subject to subsection (1B) of this section, subsection (1) of this section shall have effect as respects notice of an application for planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of minerals as if any person entitled to an interest in a mineral in the land to which the application relates were an owner of the land.
(1B) Subsection (1) of this section shall not have effect as provided by subsection (1A) of this section in relation to a person entitled to an interest in—
(a ) oil, gas or coal; or
(b ) gold or silver.’.
(3) In subsection (2) of that section after ‘(c )’ there shall be inserted ‘, paragraph (cc )’.
(4) The following subsections shall be inserted after that subsection—
(2A) In order to comply with this subsection the applicant must—
(a ) post the requisite notice of the application, sited and displayed in such a way as to be easily visible and legible by members of the public, in at least one place in every parish or community within which there is situated any part of the land to which the application relates; and
(b ) leave the notice in position for not less than seven days in the period of 21 days immediately preceding the making of the application to the local planning authority.
(2B) The applicant shall not be treated as unable to comply with subsection (2A) of this section if the notice is, without any fault or intention of his, removed, obscured or defaced before the seven days referred to in subsection (2A)(b ) of this section have elapsed, so long as he has taken reasonable steps for its protection and, if need be, replacement; and, if he has cause to rely on this subsection, his certificate under subsection (1)(cc ) of this section shall state the relevant circumstances.
(2C) The notice required by subsection (2A) of this section shall (in addition to any other matters required to be contained in it) name a place within the area of the local planning authority to whom the application is made where a copy of the application for planning permission, and of all plans and other documents submitted with it, will be open to inspection by the public at all reasonable hours during such period as may be specified in the notice, being a period of not less than 21 days beginning with the date on which the notice is first posted.’.
5 Imposition of aftercare conditions on planning permission.
5. The following section shall be inserted after section 30 of that Act—
30A ‘Aftercare conditions on permission for winning and working of minerals.
(1) Where planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of minerals is granted subject to a restoration condition, it may be granted subject also to any such aftercare condition as the mineral planning authority think fit.
(2) In this Act—
‘restoration...
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