The Evolution and Implications of Mineral Planning Policy in the National Parks of England and Wales

Quarrying upsets national park interests, perhaps more than any other activity. As a consequence, considerable effort has been expended over the past forty years to devise appropriate mineral planning policies for the parks. Three approaches are identified and are indicated by the names of the ministers that propounded them: the Silkin test (1949); the Sandford approach (1976); and the Waldegrave formulation (1987). Particular importance is attached to clarifying the premise on which each of the three policies is based, and to exploring the implications of the policies, both for the national parks and for the rest of the countryside. The Silkin test and Sandford approach are shown to have markedly different premises and consequences, whereas the recently propounded Waldegrave formulation appears to be intermediate to the other two. But the consequences of Waldegrave are shown to be inconsistent with its intermediate premise. For all the dressing up, Waldegrave produces outcomes no different from Silkin's, and current mineral policy is effectively back where it started. The desirability of this is considered.