The Cheshire replacement minerals local plan

The Cheshire Replacement Minerals Local Plan, adopted in 1999, provides planning advice on where mineral development can take place. It covers both Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester Boroughs.  Together, these Boroughs contain a variety of minerals including salt, construction sand and silica sand which are important to the regional and national economy. The working of these minerals has the potential to create a negative impact on the environment and it is important that we achieve the correct balance between the release of sufficient minerals and the protection of our environmental resources.

A philosophy of sustainable development underpins the Cheshire Replacement Minerals Local Plan. This philosophy looks at conserving the County’s environment and natural resources for the benefit of future generations.

The Plan proposes that future working of salt, silica sand and sand and gravel should come from limited areas of the County and that detailed policies will minimise the impact of all mineral working by enabling rigorous monitoring of site operations and ensuring a positive restoration of sites on set timescales for both phasing and completion.

All policies in the Minerals Local Plan were saved under a direction from the Secretary of State dated 18 September 2007. A number of policies have now been replaced by policies in the Local Plan Strategy (adopted 27 July 2017); a list of these is available to download below.

Document downloads

• Interactive map Cheshire Replacement Minerals Local Plan
• Cheshire Replacement Minerals Local Plan 1999 (Full Version) (PDF, 2.44MB)
• Secretary of State's Direction (Saved Policies) (PDF, 18KB)
• List of policies saved and deleted on adoption of the Local Plan Strategy (PDF, 41KB)

The plan can also be downloaded by sub-section:

Cheshire Replacement Minerals Local Plan Chapters and Appendices

Chapters	Appendices
Contents and Foreword (PDF, 1.6MB)	Appendix 1 (PDF, 43KB)
Chapter 1 - Introduction (PDF, 128KB)	Appendix 2 (PDF, 50KB)
Chapter 2 - Minerals - General (PDF, 458KB)	Appendix 3 (PDF, 47KB)
Chapter 3 - Minerals - Exploration (PDF, 77KB)	Appendix 4 (PDF, 44KB)
Chapter 4 - Clay (PDF, 48KB)	Appendix 5 (PDF, 33KB)
Chapter 5 - Coal (PDF, 73KB)	Appendix 6 (PDF, 213KB)
Chapter 6 - Sand and Gravel (PDF, 95KB)	Appendix 7 (PDF, 92KB)
Chapter 7 - Hydrocarbons (PDF, 95KB)	Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) 1 (PDF, 120KB)
Chapter 8 - Peat (PDF, 87KB)	Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) 2 (PDF, 72KB)
Chapter 9 - Salt (PDF, 83KB)	Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) 3 (PDF, 51KB)
Chapter 10 - Sandstone (PDF, 131KB)	Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) 4 (PDF, 61KB)
Chapter 11 - Silica Sand (PDF, 129KB)	Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) 5 (PDF, 77KB)
Chapter 12 - Policy (PDF, 180KB)

Proposals Map and Inset Maps

• Inset Map 1 - Preferred Extension for Sand and Gravel Extraction (PDF, 2.6MB)
• Inset Map 2 - Preferred Extension for Existing Salt Mine (PDF, 2.5MB) 
• Inset Map 3 - Preferred Extension for Controlled Brinefield (PDF, 2.5MB) 
• Inset Map 4 - Preferred Extension for Controlled Brinefield (PDF, 817KB) 
• Inset Map 5 - Preferred Extension for Silica Sand Quarry (PDF, 2.2MB) 
• Inset Map 6 - Preferred Extension for Silica Sand Quarry (PDF, 1.6MB) 
• Inset Map 7 - Preferred Extension for Silica Sand Quarry (PDF, 2MB)
• Inset Map 8 - Preferred Extension for Silica Sand Quarry (PDF, 2MB) 
• Inset Map 9 - Preferred Extension for Silica Sand Quarry (PDF, 2MB)
• Proposals Map (PDF, 1.8MB)