8. Natural resources (air, land, minerals and waste)

8.1 This theme focuses on local air quality, the quality of soil resources, waste generation, the extent of mineral resources, water supply resources and water quality in Vale of Glamorgan.

Policy context

8.2 Table 8.1 presents the most relevant documents identified in the policy review for the purposes of the RLDP and ISA.

Table 8.1 Plans, policies and strategies reviewed in relation to natural resources

8.3 Key messages emerging from the review are summarised below:

• The RLDP will be required to be in general conformity with Future Wales, which forms part of the development plan and sets out the 20-year spatial framework for land use, providing a context for the provision of new infrastructure/ growth. Future Wales identifies Vale of Glamorgan as falling within the South East Wales region, the smallest of the four regions by area, including the coastal cities of Cardiff and Newport and the former industrial heartlands of the south Wales valleys. The SDP for South East Wales seeks to address regional factors such as air quality, the water environment, land use, and the soil resource, recognising the wider benefits of natural capital and derived from ecosystem services.
• Furthermore, Future Wales recognises the need to take account of the long-term implications of climate change and build resilience in this respect, by guiding strategic development over the next 20 years. Future Wales encourages efficient land use, requiring that the relationships between all forms of land use and management be considered more fully if Wales is to address the climate emergency, reverse biodiversity decline and enable communities to benefit from more sustainable forms of managing natural resources. This is especially the case in large parts of the region's rural areas.
• The Environment (Wales) Act sets out the "sustainable management of natural resources" (SMNR); using natural resources in a way and at a rate that promotes the achievement of the objective to maintain and enhance the resilience of ecosystems and the benefits they provide. The Act sets out a framework for the delivery of SMNR, which includes practical steps to improve air quality, not just in the most polluted hotspots but across Wales.
• The Welsh Government has committed to taking a cross-government approach to tackling air quality. The 'Clean Air Wales' Programme (2018) seeks to reduce the burden of poor air quality on human health and the natural environment. This programme will consider evidence and develop and implement actions required across government departments including environment, health, education, decarbonisation, transport, local government, planning, agriculture, and industry to achieve clean air for Wales. The Programme will build on existing cross government work to reduce air pollution, including Future Wales and PPW.
• The Environmental Noise (Wales) Regulations 2006require the National Assembly for Wales to identify and publish details of noise sources. The competent authority must then produce strategic noise maps and action plans to deal with this noise pollution. Adding to this, TAN 11: Noise (1997) outlines how to use the planning system to reduce the adverse impact of noise. In 2015, an update to TAN 11: Noise was outlined.
• National planning policy is set out in PPW, the primary objective of which is to ensure that the planning system contributes towards the delivery of sustainable development, and contributes positively towards improving the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of Wales. This is as required by the Planning (Wales) Act 2015, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and other key legislation and resultant duties such as the Socio-economic Duty. In respect of natural resources, PPW requires that the preparation of LDP's takes account of the physical and environmental constraints on development of land, including, for example, the level of contamination and stability. Consideration should also be given to the potential impacts which remediation of land contamination might have upon the natural and historic environments.
• PPW also requires development plans to take water-related issues into account from an early stage in the process of identifying land for development and redevelopment. Allied to this, the Council, as a Sustainable Drainage Approval Body (SAB), has statutory responsibility for determining drainage applications in conjunction with new development.
• Air quality and soundscape are addressed in the PPW as a key component of the natural and built environment, placing the issues on an equal footing with other objectives such as housing, transport, and economic development. PPW recognises the importance of air quality and appropriate soundscapes to the health and well-being of people and the environment and seeks to ensure long-term approaches are taken to prevent creation of new problems or worsening of existing issues.
• With specific reference to waste management, TAN21 (Waste) states that land use planning should help to:
  ─ Drive the management of waste up the waste hierarchy and facilitate the provision of an adequate network of appropriate facilities.
  ─ Minimise the impact of waste management on the environment (natural and manmade) and human health through the appropriate location and type of facilities; and
  ─ Recognise and support the economic and social benefits that can be realised from the management of waste as a resource within Wales.
• The Collections, Infrastructure and Markets Sector Plan (2012) 'Towards Zero Waste' is the overarching waste strategy document for Wales and covers the management of all waste in Wales and suggests where improved recycling is needed and aims to facilitate infrastructure developments to address the waste management capacity needs for Wales. For South East Wales, the plan identifies a requirement for additional waste management facilities capable of handling between 421,000 and 871,000 tonnes by 2024-2025.
• Regarding minerals, PPW stresses the importance of safeguarding deposits which society may need in the future. The RDLP should seek to safeguard the local resource in accordance with national policy to ensure availability for future generations. Specifically, PPW sets out a requirement for a steady and adequate supply of minerals. MTAN 1 (aggregates) and MTAN 2 (coal) further set a principle for the sustainable provision of resource to meet social needs for construction (aggregates) and energy (coal). The Regional Technical Statement 2nd Review sets the sub-regional and local context for minerals provision going forward, including local requirements for primary aggregates.
• PPW sets out that development plans are important vehicles for the promotion of environmental protection. They should enable consideration of the effects which proposed developments, and transport demand associated with them, may have on land, air, or water quality and the effects which land, air or water quality may have on proposed developments.
• Welsh Water's Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) (2019) looks out across 30 years from 2020 to 2050 to assess potential risks to supplying sufficient water to meet anticipated demands. Key factors considered include demographic and economic changes that affect water demand, climate change which is recognised by WG's Future Generation's Act as a significant challenge facing Wales, and environmental obligations such as the European Water Framework Directive and the Habitats Directive.
• The Cardiff Capital Region and City Deal seeks to promote strong, sustainable, and balanced growth throughout the region, committing to a partnership approach to housing and regeneration, which encourages efficient land use, utilising brownfield land opportunities where possible. The deal aims to encourage investment and create an equal opportunity environment within the ten local authorities and other key partners in its boundaries. The RLDP should set out policies and proposals for the promotion of sustainable growth within the area that maximises resource efficiency and minimises environmental impacts.
• The recent adoption of the Vale of Glamorgan Recycling and Waste Management Business Plan and Strategy (2022 - 2032) is a key step towards addressing the Project Zero Challenge to "Reduce waste and put in place the necessary facilities, services and awareness raising for a more circular economy with a strong emphasis on reuse, repair and recycling". The Strategy considers our actions in the form of a 10-year plan (2022-2032) and aligns with WG priorities for recycling and waste.

Baseline summary

Air quality

8.4 There are currently no Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in the Vale of Glamorgan; however, it is noted that Windsor Road, Cogan, Penarth AQMA was declared August 2013 for exceedances in nitrogen dioxide, but was revoked January 2021.^[136]

8.5 Although air quality within the Vale of Glamorgan complies with regulations to protect human health and meets the relevant air quality objectives this will continue to be monitored as the Vale has one of the highest levels of man-made air pollution in Wales and is higher than the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish averages.^[137] Air emission scores are much higher in the south and east of the county, including Barry, where population densities, traffic volumes and proximity to heavy industry are higher than in the more rural areas of the Vale of Glamorgan . Air emissions disproportionately affect the Vale's more deprived communities which can exacerbate already high levels of health inequality by increasing levels of respiratory disease and other illnesses.

Noise pollution

8.6 The quiet area map for Cardiff and Penarth^[138] shows that there are five designated quiet areas in Penarth, which are:

1. Penarth Head Lane
2. Belle Vue Park
3. Alexandra Park
4. Golden Gates
5. Victoria Playing Fields

8.7 Once an area has been designated as a quiet area, Planning Policy Wales requires development plan policies to have regard to the need to protect it from an increase in noise and requires special consideration where noise-generating development is proposed nearby^[139].

Water resources

8.8 Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is responsible for managing water resources in Wales. One of the ways that this is done is through licensing water abstraction within catchment areas. NRW developed Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies (CAMS) to:

• inform the public on water resources and licensing practice.
• provide a consistent approach to local water resources management; and
• help to balance the needs of water-users and the environment.

8.9 Two river catchment areas cover the authority with most of the area lying within the Cadoxton and Thaw CAMS area. A smaller area to the east lies within the Taff and Ely CAMS areas (both produced in 2006) (see Figure 8.2).

8.10 The largest potable water supply abstraction within the Cadoxton amd Thaw CAMS area is from Biglis Wells on the Cadoxton Moors. At low flow the River Cadoxton is currently identified as over-abstracted.^[140]

8.11 Carboniferous Limestone is the main aquifer in the area and significant quantities of water can be abstracted from it. However, the limestone provides poor long-term storage and therefore provides little baseflow to the rivers. As a result, both river systems can experience naturally occurring low river flows during prolonged dry periods. In very dry summers, some of the smaller tributaries can dry up completely.^[141]

8.12 Five Ground Water Source Protection Zones have been designated within the Vale of Glamorgan. These are shown within Figure 8.2, and are centred upon: Ogmore, Dinas Powys, Llansannor, Llangan and Treoes.

8.13 In terms of water quality, the Cadoxton and Thaw CAMS biological reports are either 'good' or 'very good' whilst the biological quality of the upper and lower stretches of the River Ely is good.

8.14 The Vale of Glamorgan lies within the Western Wales River Basin Management Plan (RBMP), with a small portion at the north of the authority being included within the Severn RBMP. The NRW's Local Authority Evidence Package for the Vale shows eight out of 14 surface water bodies shown to have Good Ecological Status (GES), five of Moderate Ecological Status and one at Poor Ecological Status.^[142]

Bathing waters

8.15 The Vale has four bathing beaches, these are Cold Knap Barry, Jackson's Bay, Whitmore Bay, and Southerndown.^[143] Figure 8.1 shows the three bathing beaches in Barry to the east, and Southerndown bathing beach to the west of the Vale.^[144]

Figure 8.1 Designated bathing water^[145]

8.16 In Wales, Natural Resources Wales is responsible for monitoring bathing waters. Table 8.2 below shows that all four of the Vale's bathing beaches have passed the EC Bathing Waters classification from 2018. These results show that the overall water quality for Barry's Cold Knap and Southerndown has remained consistently high compared with the classification for Jackson Bay, which has more mixed results.

Table 8.2 Annual bathing water quality assessments^[146]

8.17 The beaches and the coastal waters beyond are under pressure from a combination of diffuse rural pressures and urban pollution from sewage /misconnections in the developed areas. The top five sources of pollution are:^[147]

• Pollution from sewage – bacteria from sewage can enter our waters because of system failures or overflows or directly from sewage works.
• Water draining from farms and farmland – manure from livestock or poorly stored slurry can wash into rivers and streams resulting in faecal material entering the sea.
• Animals and birds on or near beaches - dog, bird and other animal faeces can affect bathing water as they often contain high levels of bacteria (much higher than treated human waste).
• Water draining from populated areas - water draining from urban areas following heavy rain can contain pollution from a variety of sources, including animal and bird faeces.
• Domestic sewage – misconnected drains and poorly located and maintained septic tanks can pollute surface water systems.

Areas affecting bathing waters

8.18 Figure 8.2 shows areas affecting bathing waters within the Vale. This dataset comprises of polygons relating to each site identified under the Bathing Water Directive (76/160/EEC)/. Where a site corresponds to a Sensitive Area under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) in England & Wales, the polygon for that Sensitive Area is provided. These areas coincide with the designated bathing waters discussed above.