Kent County Council, as the Minerals and Waste Planning Authority for Kent, has a statutory responsibility to plan for future minerals supply and waste management capacity in Kent. This is to ensure economic minerals, which are necessary to meet society’s needs, are provided and waste is sustainably managed, whilst also protecting communities and the environment. 

We do this through our Minerals and Waste Local Plan and subsequent planning applications. The Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2013-30 was adopted by the County Council in July 2016 and was subject to some limited changes as part of an Early Partial Review which was adopted in September 2020. The statutory 5 year review of the Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan commenced in 2021 and is ongoing.

Economic minerals are naturally occurring materials found in the earth’s crust that are used by society for a wide variety of applications such as construction and industrial production purposes. In Kent, at this time, important economic minerals include aggregate forming materials comprising:

• soft sand for mortar production
• sharp sand, gravel and hard rock for road construction and concrete manufacturing

Industrial minerals in Kent include brickearth that is used to produce construction bricks. 

Other industrial minerals which are important include clay for land engineering purposes and silica sand which is used in a variety of applications including glass making and water filtration. 

Chalk used to be extracted for cement manufacture but is now only used in the County for agricultural liming.

More information on minerals worked in Kent can be found in the Pre-Submission Draft Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

The adopted Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan  sets out the County Council’s strategy and policy framework for minerals and waste development in Kent. The Plan includes strategic policies for minerals and waste development, as well as development management policies.

The Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2013-30 was adopted in July 2016 and limited changes adopted in September 2020 resulting from an Early Partial Review. The separate Kent Mineral Sites Plan, which allocates three areas of land suitable for development associated with the extraction of sand and gravel, was also adopted in 2020. Together these documents form part of the Development Plan which sets out how planning applications, and appeals, are to be considered for mineral and waste management development. 

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the KCC Minerals and Waste Planning Policy Team. There are three ways of getting in touch:

• Email us on mwlp@kent.gov.uk
• Phone us Monday to Friday on 03000 422370
• Write to us at KCC Minerals and Waste Planning Policy, First Floor, Invicta House, County Hall, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XX

You can also find further information on the kent.gov.uk website.

You can comment by completing one of our representation forms.

You can upload your completed form or written response on the current consultation page.

Alternatively, you can:

email it to mwlp@kent.gov.uk   

send it by post to: Minerals and Waste Planning Policy Team, Planning Applications Group, Invicta House, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XX.

Yes, full responses will be submitted to the Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Independent Examination. They will be made publicly available on our website with personal data removed.

Please read our privacy statement for further details.

Once the consultation has closed, the Minerals and Waste Planning Policy Team will collate all of the comments received and forward them to the appointed Planning Inspector. The Inspector will then consider whether any further changes need to be made to the draft Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2024-39 before it can be adopted.

The purpose of the Kent Mineral Sites Plan (MSP) is to identify sites where suitable and necessary mineral development (quarrying) can occur and, in doing so, provide certainty to the minerals industry, local authorities and communities of where future development of this nature might take place. 

The Kent MSP identifies sites to meet mineral supply requirements (based on current assessments of need and the objectives of the KMWLP) that are considered suitable when assessed against the locational criteria set out in the policies of the KMWLP.

The Kent MSP helps provide certainty that a steady and adequate supply of aggregate minerals can be maintained in Kent in accordance with national policy. Together, the adopted KMWLP and the adopted Kent MSP form the main part of the Development Plan which represents the planning policy framework for minerals and waste development in Kent.

The current Kent MSP was adopted in 2020 and allocates three sites that are considered suitable for the quarrying of aggregate minerals: 

• a soft sand quarry at Chapel Farm West, Lenham 
• two sharp sand and gravel quarries to be worked sequentially at Moat Farm, Capel and an extension to Stonecastle Farm Quarry, Hadlow 

Prior to any allocated site being developed, it would still require detailed planning permission. 

Work on a potential review of the Kent Minerals Sites Plan is ongoing and this includes a detailed technical assessment of a site that has been nominated as suitable for allocation in the MSP for development as a hard rock site. Until that assessment is complete, no decision can be taken on whether the site will be allocated or not in a revised Kent Mineral Sites Plan.  

No, the consultation for the Pre-submission Draft of the Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan does not include consideration of any sites submitted as potential allocations for a revised Mineral Sites Plan.  

The review of the Minerals Sites Plan is being undertaken separately and is currently ongoing. Detailed technical assessment work to inform the Sites Plan is in hand and is not expected to be completed until late 2024.