An inquiry into prospects for sustainability in mineral planning

The relationship of planning for minerals development with notions of sustainability is explored. Environmental planning control cannot hope to resolve issues of global resource usage, but should address issues of the efficient use of the resources at local and national levels, the minimization of environmental damage and the effective reuse of sites. Market-led central government policy generally avoids issues of resource management, but some new policy guidance does aim at alternative depletion strategies. The operational phases of mineral extraction can be made more sustainable if there is the political will to enforce high standards of environmental protection. The restoration of worked out sites presents major opportunities for sustainable development ideas. A major current problem lies in old, inadequate mineral permissions; their updating is an urgent priority. The relationship between mineral extraction and sustainability as a model of planned resource use and replacement is redefined. The Sustainability Research Centre at the University of Central England (UCE) has been established, with pump-priming finance, to provide a framework for a focused research effort into the theory and practice of sustainability as a fundamental criterion for the planning and implementation of land development proposals. It has been formed by a team of lecturers from the Schools of Planning, Architecture, Housing and Estate Management at UCE; it is intended to promote an interdisciplinary approach to the research. Immediate objectives include: publication of the proceedings of the recent conference entitled 'Struggling with Sustainability'; the establishment of a sustainability database; and extending support for an established research project into policy-action relationships in minerals planning. This current paper is one product of the latter initiative.