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South London Waste Plan

Running in tandem with, but separate to, the South London Waste Partnership procurement process is the development of the South London Waste Plan, an important planning document that is being jointly prepared by Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton councils.

It is a requirement of all planning authorities to identify sites within their boundaries that could be used for waste treatment purposes.

The South London Waste Plan aims to answer two key questions:

  1. How should planning applications for waste treatment facilities be assessed in the future?
  2. Which sites in the region are suitable for this type of development?

The Waste Plan aims to improve certainty about waste development.  Currently, there are few local planning policies which can be used to assess applications for waste management facilities.

The South London Waste Plan will improve this situation: it will contain a number of robust policies against which all future planning applications for waste management facilities will be assessed, including those that come about as a result of the Partnership’s procurement work.  These policies will ensure the best outcomes for local people and the environment.

It is a requirement of all planning authorities to identify sites within their boundaries that could be used for waste treatment purposes.  So the South London Waste Plan will also identify sites across the four boroughs that are considered suitable for waste management purposes, providing the waste industry with clear direction in choosing appropriate locations.

EU and UK legislation (as well as the Mayor of London’s London Plan) require increasing amounts of our waste to be sorted and processed in facilities closer to where it was generated.  To achieve this locally, new waste management facilities will be needed.  That is why the South London Waste Plan is proposing to protect all existing waste treatment sites from other tyes of development and identifies an additional 11 industrial areas as suitable locations for up to seven hectares of new waste treatment facilities to built on over the next ten years.

The South London Waste Plan has been developed in close consultation with residents, land owners, waste operators and government departments.  The Plan was submitted to the Secretary of State on 28 April 2011 and the Examination-in-Public was then commenced.  The public hearings were held between 12 and 19 July and a consultation on the proposed changes to the Plan arising from the hearings was held between 3 August and 20 September 2011. The Inspector issued his report on 26 October 2011.

Further details about the South London Waste Plan can be found on your local council’s web site: