News on Surrey Minerals and Waste Local Plan

Thank you to all stakeholders who have contributed to the Issues and Options public consultation. The formal consultation period ended on 7 March 2022 and the digital consultation hub is now closed for comments. The public consultation marked the first formal stage of preparing Surrey County Council’s first joint minerals and waste local plan. Its purpose was to notify stakeholders that Surrey County Council has started to prepare a new local plan and find out what is important to them about future minerals and waste management development in the county. The consultation was widely publicised including by written notification of over 650 stakeholder organisations, adverts in the local press, and by way of Surrey County Council’s website, publications and social media. The digital consultation hub has attracted over 2200 visits and 200 contributions, and the Minerals and Waste Planning Authority has received about 140 written representations and some 20 site nominations. Planning officers have visited several libraries across the county to engage directly with stakeholders about the consultation, and participated in focus group exercises with Surrey residents to gain additional insight into issues that are important to them. Stakeholder feedback received over the course of the 16-week consultation period will inform the next stage of the plan-making process which will include a Preferred Options (Draft Plan) public consultation. The Minerals and Waste Planning Authority has started to prepare and will, in due course, publish a consultation and engagement summary document relating to the Issues and Options public consultation. Further updates and publications relating to the Minerals and Waste Local Plan will be made available on Surrey County Council's website and announced by ‘latest news’ updates.