Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011

Power to impose aftercare conditions on grant of mineral planning permission

53.—(1) Where—

(a) planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of minerals or involving the depositing of mineral waste or waste materials is granted, and

(b) the permission is subject to a condition requiring that after the winning and working is completed or the depositing has ceased, the site shall be restored by the use of any or all of the following, namely, subsoil, topsoil and soil-making material,

it may be granted subject also to any such condition as the council or, as the case may be, the Department thinks fit requiring that such steps shall be taken as may be necessary to bring land to the required standard for whichever of the following uses is specified in the condition, namely—

(i) use for agriculture;

(ii) use for forestry;

(iii) use for amenity; or

(iv) use for ecological purposes.

(2) In this Act—

(a) a condition such as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) is referred to as “a restoration condition”; and

(b) a condition requiring such steps to be taken as are mentioned in that subsection is referred to as “an aftercare condition”.

(3) An aftercare condition may either—

(a) specify the steps to be taken; or

(b) require that the steps be taken in accordance with a scheme (in this Act referred to as an “aftercare scheme”) approved by the council or, as the case may be, the Department.

(4) A council or the Department may approve an aftercare scheme in the form in which it is submitted to it or may modify it and approve it as modified.

(5) The steps that may be specified in an aftercare condition or an aftercare scheme may consist of planting, cultivating, fertilising, watering, draining or otherwise treating the land.

(6) Where a step is specified in a condition or a scheme, the period during which it is to be taken may also be specified, but no step may be required to be taken after the expiry of the aftercare period.

(7) In subsection (6) “the aftercare period” means a period of 5 years from compliance with the restoration condition or such other maximum period after compliance with that condition as may be prescribed; and in respect of any part of a site, the aftercare period shall commence on compliance with the restoration condition in respect of that part.

(8) In a case where—

(a) the use specified in an aftercare condition is a use for agriculture; and

(b) the land was in use for agriculture at the time of the grant of the planning permission or had previously been used for that purpose and had not at the time of the grant been used for any authorised purpose since its use for agriculture ceased,

the land is brought to the required standard when its physical characteristics are restored, so far as it is practicable to do so, to what they were when it was last used for agriculture.

(9) In any other case where the use specified in an aftercare condition is a use for agriculture, the land is brought to the required standard when it is reasonably fit for that use.

(10) Where the use specified in an aftercare condition is a use for forestry, the land is brought to the required standard when it is reasonably fit for that use.

(11) Where the use specified in an aftercare condition is a use for amenity, the land is brought to the required standard when it is suitable for sustaining trees, shrubs or other plants.

(12) In this section—

“authorised” means authorised by planning permission;

“forestry” means the growing of a utilisable crop of timber.