Issue details

Denbighshire County Council (DCC) endorsed the Regional Technical Statement Second Review (RTS 2) on 26th January 2021. The RTS 2 projects future demand for aggregates so that mineral development can be planned for in a managed and proportionate way by Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). It provides strategic recommendations to each LPA regarding their apportionments and indicates the likelihood of new allocations, which may need to be made in the next LDP, to meet the predicted future demand throughout the relevant plan period.

For the purpose of strategic minerals planning, the RTS 2 establishes a set of sub-regions in Wales that are based on a number of factors such as, type of mineral, supply patterns, minimal movement of aggregates or distinctive market areas. The Counties of Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham form the ‘North East Wales’ sub-region, whilst the Counties of Conwy, Gwynedd, Anglesey and the Snowdonia National Park Authority are grouped as ‘North West Wales’ sub-region.

The RTS 2, see paragraph 1.27, introduces the requirement for all LPAs in each sub-region to prepare a Statement of Sub-Regional Collaboration (SSRC), which does not only ensure that the overall sub-regional apportionments, as set out in the document for every constituent county, are met but also be used as crucial evidence for demonstrating that the adopted (or forthcoming Local Development Plan) will provide the objectively assessed need for minerals over the plan period. Any Statement of Sub-Regional Collaboration is going to be a material planning consideration in the determination of planning applications.