APPG for Mining and Quarring: 19 March 2019
All Party Parliamentary Group for Mining and Quarrying, held in Dining Room B of the House of Commons on Tuesday 19th March 2019
Jerry McLaughlin, Executive Director of Economic and Public Affairs, gave an update of the economic situation at the end of 2018, which showed a welcome increase in year on year aggregates sales volumes of 2%, but suggested that the outlook for 2019 was likely to be flat. Housing had been going well, but growth was likely to slow down this year. Infrastructure was dominated by some large projects, but their progress was uncertain: plenty of jam tomorrow, but there was no real confidence in the delivery of many schemes. All the forecasts assumed a negotiated exit from the EU. More information can be found here.
Mr. McLaughlin reported on the reality of the recycling picture in the industry, which was far better than was generally appreciated, with 30% of the GB aggregates market supplied from recycled and secondary sources, more than twice as high as the European average. DEFRA recently set out in the Resources and Waste strategy that “weight” was no longer regarded as the key indicator of environmental impact, stating that plastic was light in weight but high on environmental impact, while aggregates production was high in weight but low in environmental impact. He highlighted the Aggregates Levy review and hoped that there might be scope for Government in its review to reconsider the case for some sort of community and sustainability benefit, such as an Aggregates Levy Community Fund Scheme, using a small percentage of the Levy income. He closed by recognising that the relationship between international issues, for example carbon reduction and resource use, and national and local issues and perceptions.
The presentation led to a discussion of a large number of relevant topics.
The debate about international shortages of sand and the need to keep it in perspective, especially with growing consumption in Asia and Africa consumption dwarfing UK consumption. In the UK there are mature and effective regulations and processes to ensure aggregates supply is managed sustainably but in some parts of the world regulatory capacity is very limited and the environmental impacts of resource supply high .
The issue of safeguarding rail depots and wharves was raised, acknowledging that the situation in London was probably well understood and some action has been taken to safeguard these sites, but this was a national problem.
The question of whether we were doing enough to recycle “waste” was raised, the answer being positive. More can be found in the MPA’s latest report here.
The practical impacts of English devolution relating to City/Regions and LEPs was also discussed.
