The London Plan requires all London councils to ensure they have sufficient facilities to manage any household and business waste produced in their borough. Currently, a large proportion of London's waste is transported outside London but the London mayor would like most of London's waste to be managed within London by 2031.
The OPDC and Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond Councils have now adopted the West London Waste Plan (WLWP). Following public consultations, the plan now forms part of each borough's local plan.
The WLWP details the boroughs' visions and strategy to achieve sustainable waste management and "net self-sufficiency" in West London. It introduces a waste hierarchy which shows different options available for waste. Prevention, re-using and recycling are prioritised with disposal by incineration or landfill being the last options.
This WLWP is the primary framework for determining planning applications for any waste management facilities in the relevant boroughs. This includes identifying potential sites for developers to use. The plan sets out "eight sites which ensures adequate waste management provision of the lifetime of the plan"; covering an area of 15.52 hectares. To ensure flexibility and innovation, there is no specific direction on which type of waste management facility must be developed in any one location.
Developers should also take into account any requirements and policies set out in national policies, the relevant council's documents, the London plan, the Mayor of London Order (2008) and any supplementary planning guidance before submitting a planning application. The London mayor has the power to call in waste development planning applications in certain situations.
The document also identifies and safeguards existing sites to "ensure there is no loss in existing capacity". This includes details in relation to the existing waste management, the estimated waste level for various types of waste in West London and any shortfall in capacity between now and 2031.
Planning expert Alexis Coleman of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "The intent that London's waste be managed within London is reflected by the apportionment of waste to London boroughs in the London Plan. The Inspector examining the plan was concerned to ensure that apportionment was secured in the adopted WLWP, highlighting this as one of six main issues requiring modification in order that the plan was sound and capable of adoption."
"The Inspector required the WLWP to include an express policy commitment relating to the apportionment of waste in West London and setting out the provision of capacity by key dates," said Coleman. "A policy commitment was required to secure the appropriate and timely provision of waste management facilities; simply recording this intention in the preamble to the WLWP was not sufficient to achieve compliance with the London Plan."