Shire of Chittering

TOWN PLANNING SCHEME NO. 6

LOCAL PLANNING POLICY No. 10

BASIC RAW MATERIALS

AND

EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

ADOPTED FOR FINAL APPROVAL on 18 July 2007

Shire of Chittering Local Planning Policy No. 10 Basic Raw Materials and Extractive Industries

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1. STATUTORY CONTEXT

The Shire of Chitterings Town Planning Scheme No. 6 (Scheme) controls basic raw materials through clauses 4.2.3, 5.16 and 6.4. The Shire makes this Local Planning Policy No 10 regarding Basic Raw Materials and Extractive Industries (Policy) under Part 2 of the Scheme. If any provision of this Policy is inconsistent with the Scheme then the Scheme prevails. This Policy is not part of the Scheme and shall not bind the Shire in any respect of an application for Planning Approval. The Shire shall, however, have due regard to the provisions of this Policy and the objectives that this Policy is designed to achieve before making its decision. This policy applies to all commercial extraction of basic raw materials on all land within the Shires district and supersedes Local Planning Policy No. 10 - Basic Raw Materials and Extractive Industries adopted 20 December 2006.

2. DEFINITIONS

Unless the context otherwise requires, words and expressions used in this Policy have the same meaning as they have in the Scheme. The following are definitions that relate directly to the application of this policy: Basic Raw Materials means sand (including silica sand), clay, hard rock, limestone (including metallurgical limestone) and gravel and other construction and road building materials By-law means Shire of Chittering By-law Relating to Extractive Industries approved by the Governor 16 July 1996 Council means the Council of the Shire of Chittering Extractive Industry means an industry which involves the extraction, quarrying or removal of sand, gravel, clay, hard rock, stone or similar material from the land and includes the treatment and storage of those materials, or the manufacture of products from those materials on, or adjacent to, the land from which the materials are extracted, but does not include industry-mining Lot has the same meaning as in the Planning and Development Act 2005, but does not include a strata or survey strata lot Scheme means Shire of Chittering Town Planning Scheme No. 6 Shire means the Shire of Chittering

Shire of Chittering Local Planning Policy No. 10 Basic Raw Materials and Extractive Industries

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3. BACKGROUND

The Shire of Chitterings mineral resources are limited to basic raw materials for construction gravel for roads, sand for building and fill and clay for the manufacture of tiles and bricks. Unlike neighbouring Shires there are no identified large reserves of rock, stone or agriculturally useful additive materials such as lime sands. There have been traces of gold, platinum and palladium found in the northern part of the district and there are deposits of bauxite in the vicinity of Bindoon Hill, which are considered non-viable at present. There is one mineral sands processing plant, Tiwest, at Muchea. Otherwise, all extractive industries are primary production with no secondary processing or value adding within the Shire at this time. There is an abundance of sand throughout the western part of the Shire. Gravel, in large quantities and quality, is relatively scarce. The majority of excavations have been located for convenience. This particularly applies to sand and gravel pits where the end user is located nearby hence the concentration in the southern part of the Shire, where there is the most building activity. Clay, on the other hand, is confined to the alignment of the Darling Fault line and is extracted in large commercial quantities in the southern part of the Shire. As clay resources along the fault line in the metropolitan area become exhausted, it is expected there will be increasing attention on the resources of the Shire, which extend in a line northwards, beyond Bindoon. There has been and continues to be considerable community concern over various extractive industries within the Shire. This arises for two reasons firstly, the growing number of permanent residents and tourists who come to the Shire for the natural and rural environments that it offers (lifestyle reasons) coming into conflict with extractive operations (noise, dust, truck movements, visual despoiling of landscape); secondly, poor control, management and leadership by the Shire in the past. Of particular concern are damage of roads by truck movements, excavations into acid sulphate soils that have lowered surface water quality, excavations in dieback affected areas that spread the fungus and threaten the districts biodiversity and economically important viticultural industry and excavations that have left degraded land. State Planning Policy No. 10 Basic Raw Materials, published by the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) in 2000, identified the southern clay resources as Priority Resource Location on a resource protection map, along with two gravel extraction areas one on the Bindoon-Dewars Pool Road and one on in the Chittering Valley, later removed. The Shires Town Planning Scheme No. 6 now permits extractive industries only within the Agricultural Resource Zone as an A use with the approval of the Council, after advertising. Within the Scheme there are provisions to guide the control of basic raw materials, also a Special Control Area Basic Raw Materials, which protects the resource and provides a buffer, refer Appendix 1. Supporting the Scheme is the Local Planning Strategy 2001 2015, which explains the role of basic raw materials in the context of future development, refer Appendix 2. In addition to the Scheme, the Shire has a By-law Relating to Extractive Industries, refer Appendix 3.

Shire of Chittering Local Planning Policy No. 10 Basic Raw Materials and Extractive Industries

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This policy has been created to consolidate all requirements relating to basic raw materials and to provide guidance for Council, land owners and applicants in the administration of the Scheme and By-laws for the approval and management of extractive industries.

4. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this policy are:

To facilitate extraction of the Shires basic raw materials using best available practice

To provide guidance for the preparation of applications for extractive industry proposals and an indication of conditions likely to be applied to approved proposals

To ensure that the use and development of land for the extraction of basic raw materials does not adversely affect the environment or amenity in the locality of the operation during or after extraction

To maintain the rural character of the Shire and minimize the loss of prime agricultural land. 5. POLICY STATEMENT

5.1 General

a) For the commencement and continuance of an extractive industry, both a current planning approval and excavation licence are required.

b) For the purpose of the Applicants long term planning Council is prepared to consider the granting of a planning approval for a period of up to ten (10) years.

c) For the purpose of managing day to day operations Council is prepared to consider the granting of an excavation licence for a period of up to five (5) years.

d) For ease of administration, the term of the planning approval will generally be a multiple of the term of the excavation licence, provided that Council may specify any term for the planning approval in accordance with the Scheme or for the excavation licence in accordance with the By-law.

e) Generally the planning approval will be issued to the land owner and runs with the land; the excavation licence will be issued to the operator and is not transferable, except with the written approval of the Council.

5.2 Application Requirements

Applications for an extractive industry shall:

a) be in accordance with: i) Part 9 of the Scheme ii) By-law clause nos. 4 and 5 iii) Any licence or approval required by any statutory agency

b) comprise: i) Form of Application for Planning Approval as specified in Schedule 7 of the

Scheme, plus the appropriate application fee ii) Form of Application for Excavation Licence as specified in the First Schedule of

the By-law, plus the appropriate application fee iii) Certification by an accredited dieback interpreter that the land concerned is free

from dieback iv) Excavation Management Plan, presented in the format specified in Appendix 4.

Shire of Chittering Local Planning Policy No. 10 Basic Raw Materials and Extractive Industries

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5.3 Advertising of Application

a) All applications for extractive industry are to be advertised for a minimum period of twenty-one (21) days in accordance with Section 9.4 of the Scheme and clause 6 of the By-law

b) Council is to seek the views of relevant Government agencies, as appropriate c) Any application for a proposal abutting a highway reserve is to be referred to Main

Roads Western Australia. 5.4 Preferred Development

a) Council prefers extractive industries that: i) are located south of the Bindoon Townsite ii) do not involve prime agricultural land iii) cater for basic raw material needs within the Shire of Chittering iv) are situated within areas identified in the WAPCs State Planning Policy No. 10

Basic Raw Materials v) are more than 1000m from the nearest house vi) do not require the management of acid sulphate soils vii) have direct access to Brand or Great Northern Highway

b) Subject to a) above, Council will not approve extractive industries that: i) are situated in a visually si