The treatment and disposal of waste is also a significant issue which faces the county from a planning viewpoint.
Mineral development
Derbyshire has a proud tradition of supplying raw materials for improving people’s quality of life throughout the United Kingdom and further a field.
The county is one of the richest in terms of its range and variety of mineral resources which include limestone, sandstone, sand and gravel, coal, clay and vein minerals.
These are used in building construction, road making and maintenance and in a wide range of manufacturing processes.
Derbyshire is one of the country's largest producers of minerals, providing significant employment and the minerals industry makes a substantial contribution to the local economy.
Derbyshire is also rich in the quality of its landscape, which is established on the same geology that makes the county important for mineral working.
Modern mineral working can have a significant impact on the landscape resulting in the loss of features such as hedgerows, trees and stone walls, the loss of agricultural land and disruption to wildlife, water resources and archaeology, and disturbance to local communities.
In deciding whether to grant planning permission for mineral extraction, we seek to strike an acceptable and sustainable balance between protecting the county’s rich environment and local communities and allowing the winning and working of minerals that are needed to maintain the continued improvement in people's everyday lives and living standards.
In making these decisions, we take full account of the planning policies at the strategic and local level and of the views of local communities.
Waste development
Every year the UK now produces over 100 million tonnes of waste from households, commerce and industry, including 1.9 million tonnes of it in Derbyshire.
The government's national waste strategy is to reduce the amount of waste produced, and to reuse or recycle as much as possible of the waste that is produced and to minimise the amount of waste which goes to landfill.
Whilst the waste from households is the form most people are aware of it actually accounts for only about 14% of the total waste produced overall.
We deal with proposals for a wide range of waste management facilities from small scale recycling facilities to major plants for the treatment and disposal of waste.
In deciding whether to grant planning permission for waste developments we seek to strike the most acceptable balance between protecting the environment of the county and meeting the need to treat and dispose of waste in the most sustainable manner.
In making these decisions, we take full account of the planning policies at the strategic and local level and of the views of local communities.