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Towards Strategic Guidance for the Solent - Marine Aggregates Chapter |
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Description
Licences
The area contains a total of five operating licensed dredging areas (see Map above). These are operated by four companies: United Marine Dredging Ltd, South Coast Shipping Co Ltd, Volker Dredging Ltd, and Northwood Fareham Ltd. There are also three small licensed dredging areas near Portsmouth, but these are subject to only occasional limited use.
Extraction
There is a total permitted tonnage of 2.8 million tonnes (mt) p.a. Only 1.57 mt was extracted in 1994.
Applications
There are six formal applications to extract marine aggregate in the area. However, these are not yet public knowledge and must be treated as confidential. All these applications will be the subject of consultation under the Government View procedure or the new statutory procedure which is to replace it (see below).
Landings
Over 95% of material extracted from the area in 1994 was landed in the South Coast and Isle of Wight ports. Of the remainder, 33,070 tonnes were landed in the Thames and Medway ports and 16,680 tonnes were exported (6,506 tonnes of which went to the Channel Islands).
Reserves
Reserves within the licensed dredging areas in 1994 were estimated at 45.5 mt. Reserves in formal applications were estimated at a further 48.9 mt.
Trends
Extraction from the South Coast Region increased from 6,186,726 tonnes in 1990 to 4,932,372 mt in 1994. There is an expected increase in demand for beach nourishment material.
National/Regional Context
A total of 20,792,886 tonnes of material (including that for Contract Fill and Beach Nourishment) was extracted from Crown Estate seabed in 1994 for England and Wales. The licences in the central south coast (i.e. Solent) region accounted for 7.54% of total production.
Key Authorities
The Crown Estate owns virtually all of the seabed to the 12 mile limit, and is responsible for all licensing of marine aggregate extraction on its land. All applications are however the subject of a non-statutory consultation process operated by the Department of the Environment and known as the Government View Procedure. Government Departments, local authorities and the public are consulted on each application. The Crown Estate has a stated policy that it will not issue a licence to extract marine aggregate without a favourable Government View. In November 1995 the DoE announced the Government's intention to introduce a statutory system for the licensing of minerals dredging, with the DoE responsible for regulation and enforcement.
Policies
The Department of the Environment published MPG6 in 1994, which assumes that marine dredged sources will supply up to 315 million tonnes of sand and gravel over the period 1992 to 2006 to England, excluding exports and beach nourishment. To achieve this level of supply, an annual average of 21.33 million tonnes of marine sand and gravel must be landed, significantly higher than current levels, although MPG6 envisages an increase in the rate of supply over the period.
Regulation and Control
All applications are currently the subject of the Government View Procedure. All Government View conditions are included in the Crown Estate licence. In addition since January 1993 all vessels operating on Crown Estate licences have operated an Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) which allows vessel positions to be monitored when dredging.
Interactions with Other Interests
All applications are subject, under the Government View procedure, to a study on the potential effects on coastal erosion. If this study suggests unacceptable risk the proposal is rejected without further consideration.
The Government View procedure allows for consultation with all interested parties such as fishing organisations, conservation bodies, national authorities and the general public through advertising. Conditions may be imposed requiring liaison with fishing groups and even seasonal restrictions where appropriate.
Research
In addition to the individual studies for applications, wider research is carried out. A list of research projects undertaken with the Crown Estate is available. Of particular interest is the South Coast Seabed Mobility Study.
Planning Context
County Councils are the planning authorities responsible for minerals and waste development, including the making of planning policy and determination of planning applications, and they are required to prepare both a Minerals and a Waste Local Plan, either separately or combined. In November 1993 Hampshire County Council placed on deposit a combined Minerals and Waste Local Plan, which was the subject of a public local inquiry which ended in November 1995. The following information consists mainly of relevant extracts from the Plan.
The current Government policy guidance for the provision of aggregates is contained in Minerals Planning Guidance Note 6 (MPG6) - 'Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England and Wales' April 1994. Hampshire is represented on the South East Regional Aggregates Working Party (SERAWP), which published its 'Regional Commentary for the South East' in 1992 (SERAWP 180).
Sources of Aggregates
Only about half of the aggregates used in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are obtained from local land sites, i.e. sand and gravel extraction sites. This reflects the increasing difficulty of finding sites which are environmentally acceptable to exploit. The balance of supply is met by alternative sources of aggregates, which are becoming increasingly important. They include two types that are particularly important in the Solent context: marine-dredged sand and gravel, and sea-borne crushed rock.
Dredging of sand and gravel from offshore seabed deposits is a long established practice and large quantities of this material have been landed at wharves in Hampshire for many years. Dredging currently takes place mainly off the Isle of Wight and the West Sussex coast. Dredging areas are usually licensed by the Crown Estate Commissioners and are not subject to planning control. Landings of marine-dredged sand and gravel in Hampshire increased from around 1.5 million tonnes a year in the mid 1970s to over 2.0 million tonnes a year in the late 1980s. Over the years 1985/87/89, landings averaged 2.13 million tonnes a year, but fell to 1.7 million tonnes in 1991 and 1.6 million tonnes in 1993, although figures for 1994 show an increase back to 1.7 million tonnes. Most of this material is used as concreting aggregate. There are currently nine wharves in Hampshire where marine-dredged sand and gravel is landed: five at Southampton; two at Portsmouth; and one each at Fareham and Havant. (See Table 5 and Map 16.)
Hampshire has no deposits of rock and consequently all the County's needs for crushed rock have to be supplied from elsewhere. The main source of this material currently is the Mendip Hills in Somerset, from where limestone is imported into Hampshire by rail and road. In 1990, planning permission was granted for the erection of plant at Southampton Western Docks in connection with the proposed landing of crushed granite brought by sea from Scotland. Although the plant was not erected, shiploads were landed in 1990 and 1991, but then ceased when there was a fall in demand for aggregates. Landings have not recommenced at Southampton.
In 1992, the DoE published the research report 'Coastal Superquarries to Supply South-East England Aggregate Requirements', which examines the possibility of large coastal quarries in Scotland, Norway and Spain supplying increasing quantities of aggregates to South-East England. The report identifies Southampton as being the only port on the south coast with sufficiently deep water to be able to accept the very large ships (up to 75,000 dwt) that would be used. The report identifies potential locations for wharves within the existing port complex (at Dock Gate 20 on the east side of the River Test) and on the western side of the River Test (Dibden Bay). It suggests that three aggregate wharves could eventually be developed, with a total capacity of between 9 and 12 million tonnes a year. This envisages Southampton being a centre for the distribution of sea-imported crushed rock to a market area extending beyond the County of Hampshire.
The growth of sea-borne imports of crushed rock is dependent upon large-scale investment in and development of coastal superquarries, deep water wharves and associated dock facilities, shipping, and inland transportation links.
In line with national and regional policy for the supply of aggregates, the County Council's policy is to encourage and support the use of marine-dredged and sea-borne aggregates in order that an increasing proportion of the need for aggregates is met from these sources. It is recognised that for this policy to be fulfilled, there must be sufficient capacity at wharves and rail-head depots for the material to be landed.
Aggregates Wharves
MPG6 (April 1994) envisages an increase in the supply of marine-dredged sand and gravel to the South East over the period 1992-2006, with a total of about 260 million tonnes being supplied over this period. This is similar to the supply scenario for the South-East region prepared by SERAWP in the 1992 South-East Regional Commentary (SERAWP 180), which indicates average landings of marine-dredged sand and gravel increasing in the following manner: 1992-96 - 15.0 million tonnes a year; 1997-2001 - 17.2 million tonnes a year; 2002-2006 - 20.8 million tonnes a year. In 1989, 2.3 million tonnes of marine-dredged sand and gravel was landed at wharves in Hampshire, although landings fell to 1.6 million tonnes in 1993. If landings at Hampshire wharves increased from the 1989 level in proportion to the increase in the SERAWP supply scenario, they would rise to an average of around 2.6 million tonnes a year in the period 1997-2001 and to an average of around 3.1 million tonnes a year in the period 2002-2006. It is believed that the existing aggregate wharves in Hampshire have sufficient potential capacity to accommodate such an increase in landings up to 2001 (i.e. over the Plan period) but that additional wharf capacity would probably be required after that date if further increases were required to be accommodated.
MPG6 also envisages an increase in the supply of crushed rock into the South East region by sea from outside England and Wales, with a total of about 145 million tonnes being supplied over the period 1992-2006. MPG6 says the Government believes that an increasing level of supply can be obtained from coastal superquarries over the period to 2006 but that, in view of the long lead times needed before such quarries can be brought on stream, it is unlikely that these potential sources will contribute greatly towards meeting demand until after 2001.
This is broadly similar to the supply scenario set out in SERAWP 180, which indicates the average supply of crushed rock from all sources increasing in the following manner: 1992-96 - 23 million tonnes a year; 1997-2001 - 31.8 million tonnes a year; 2002-2008 - 41.2 million tonnes a year. Total consumption of crushed rock in the South-East region in 1989 was 21.8 million tonnes, approximately 7 per cent of which was consumed in Hampshire. Assuming that Hampshire continues to account for this proportion of total crushed rock consumption in the South East, imports of crushed rock into Hampshire would increase to an average level of about 1.6 million tonnes a year in the period 1992-1996, 2.2 million tonnes a year in 1997-2001 and 2.9 million tonnes a year in 2002-2006.
The County Council considers that any increase in supply should be by rail and/or sea and that increased importation by road would be environmentally undesirable. Additional crushed rock importation capacity may be needed within the period to 2001, and would almost certainly be required to provide for further increases in imports after that date. Therefore whilst there may be a need for a resumption of landings of crushed rock at Southampton before 2001, there almost certainly will be after that year.
Sea-borne crushed rock has been landed on a small scale at a wharf on the River Itchen in Southampton in recent years. Permission has recently been granted for the use of the wharf at the former Marchwood Power Station site for the landing of various goods, including crushed rock. It is expected that this wharf will replace the Itchen wharf, but it too can currently only accommodate small vessels and the amounts of rock expected to be landed are small, being high quality stone for a specialist market. It is possible that up to 2001 larger scale imports of crushed rock could be accommodated at the existing wharves on the River Test at Southampton Western Docks, but new wharfage is expected to be required to provide for any significant increase in the landings of crushed rock after that date. If Southampton were to become a centre for the distribution of sea-borne crushed rock to a wider area of Southern England, or if the imports of sea-borne crushed rock were to replace rail and road imports into Hampshire and possibly also some of the sand and gravel supply from land-won and marine-dredged sources, large-scale development of new wharves and associated facilities would be required at Southampton and/or elsewhere on the River Test/Southampton Water. However, large-scale development of this type is not expected to be required within the period up to the end of 2001.
The County Council's policy is to safeguard existing aggregates wharves (see Map 16 and Table 5) from development for other uses, and to favour their improvement or extension, and the establishment of new wharves, provided that environmental and traffic criteria can be met.
TABLE 5: AGGREGATES WHARVES
Existing
Finding environmentally and operationally suitable sites for new wharves is extremely difficult. There is a particular need for new and improved wharf facilities in South-East Hampshire, in the Havant/Portsmouth/Fareham area. The wharves at Tipner Point and North Quay, Portsmouth have recently ceased operation and the three remaining wharves (Kendalls Wharf, Bedhampton Wharf and Upper Wharf, Fareham) are either physically constrained or have environmental problems associated with them and therefore are not suitable for significant expansion. In addition, this area is much nearer to the main marine sand and gravel dredging grounds than Southampton. However, the only possibility for the establishment of new wharf facilities seems likely to be in any redevelopment of existing dock areas in Portsmouth Harbour that might take place in the future.
In considering new sites for facilities for the landing or importation of aggregates by sea, the County Council will seek to ensure that they are located near to the market areas where the aggregates will be required. In the case of sea-borne imports of crushed rock, the existing Southampton Western Docks are physically capable of accepting the large ships that would be involved, are well located for access to the lorry route network, and have potential for rail access. The County Council will encourage the use of rail transport for the onward movement of crushed rock landed at Southampton or elsewhere, and the transportation of crushed rock from Southampton by sea, using small ships, to other coastal market areas such as Portsmouth and Poole.
After 2001, there is expected to be a rapidly increasing need for high capacity new deep-water wharfage and additional adjacent land for the large-scale landing of sea-borne crushed rock. Indeed if this material is to become a realistic alternative to traditional sources of aggregates, the appropriate infrastructure will have to be provided. However, the County Council will resist excessive or environmentally unacceptable proposals for deep-water wharves. The County Council considers Dock Gate 20, Millbrook, Southampton, generally to be an acceptable location in planning terms for the development of a new rail-connected deep-water aggregates wharf and it would encourage the establishment of such a facility there. However, it seems very unlikely that land at Dock Gate 20 will be made available for an aggregates wharf. Apart from the land at Dock Gate 20, Dibden Bay is the only location that has been suggested to date as possibly being physically suitable for such large scale new wharf development. However, the wider issue of the need to extend the port facilities provided by the Port of Southampton is being examined through the Review of the Hampshire County Structure Plan. It is premature to consider the possibility of major new aggregates wharf development at Dibden Bay prior to the completion of the Structure Plan Review.
Whilst seeking to encourage an increase in landings of marine-dredged sand and gravel, the County Council recognises that offshore dredging can have detrimental effects. It can have adverse impact on marine nature conservation and archaeological interests, fisheries and coastal protection, although a recent joint Standing Conference on Problems Associated with the Coastline/Crown Estate study 'South Coast Seabed Mobility Study'(1993) shows that sand and gravel dredging along the south coast does not contribute to coastal erosion by depriving the shore of sediment. However, the County Council is not wishing to encourage any increase in supply of marine-dredged sand and gravel beyond the levels included in national and regional guidance on the supply of aggregates. In any case, the dredging of sand and gravel from the seabed is outside the control of the County Council. It is for the Crown Estate to consider the effects of dredging on other marine and coastal interests when making decisions on the issuing of dredging licences, although the County Council is consulted on licence applications under the 'Government View Procedure'.
Source: Towards Strategic Guidance for the Solent, March 1996
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