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Permitted aggregate reserves in Great Britain fell by 46% between 2001 and 2023.
That is one of the headline findings of the Aggregate Minerals Survey 2023 (AM2023) that was published last week.
The Aggregate Minerals Surveys are conducted every four years by the British Geological Survey (BGS) for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) to assess the national supply and demand of aggregate to聽 inform future mineral planning policy.
According to the Mineral Products Association (MPA), the proposed changes to the planning system that are meant to speed up new housing approvals will do little to halt the decline in permitted reserves of the materials needed to build them.
Aggregates continue to represent the largest material flow in the British economy, comprising the vast majority of materials for all construction products and being the only bulk material to be sourced almost entirely domestically.聽
MPA has called on the government to renew its commitment to the long-established managed aggregate supply system (MASS) that is intended to ensure a steady and adequate supply of aggregates for construction and industry. Yet despite years of warnings from the minerals industry to the contrary, successive governments continue to take aggregate supply for granted whilst reserves continue to dwindle, the MPA says.
Mark Russell, MPA executive director for mineral resources, said: 鈥淎ggregate Minerals surveys are a vital part of the managed aggregate supply system.聽 Failure to respond to the findings of AM2023 would create a serious and costly risk not just to the minerals sector but also to the construction industry and the wider national economy, especially given that up to half of all aggregates are procured, directly and indirectly, by the government.
鈥淎s it stands, areas such as the southeast of England rely heavily on imports of materials from other regions in the country. The long-term planning for these supplies and the transport and infrastructure needed to deliver them, is vital to economic development. Britain is blessed with a diverse geology and while we understand the government鈥檚 focus on 鈥榗ritical鈥� minerals over recent years, it has undoubtedly taken its finger off the pulse regarding the bread-and-butter minerals that the economy, and in particular the construction sector, relies upon.聽 We hope the government will heed the message from the AM2023 report, that the decline in permitted reserves must be urgently addressed to support investment in UK plc.鈥�
The MPA has repeatedly highlighted that government policy, particularly around the delivery of housing and infrastructure, assumes that mineral products like aggregates (and downstream products such as concrete and asphalt) are in plentiful supply.聽 However, the reality remains that while Britain does have an abundance of mineral resources in the ground, securing the permitted reserves to meet the country鈥檚 demands requires long-term planning, monitoring and continual management.聽
But the national and sub-national Guidelines on Future Aggregate Provision, providing essential forecasts of need, have not been renewed since 2009, with the latest guidelines having expired in 2020.聽
On the back of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the MPA is lobbying government to provide more support and stronger planning policy for the mineral planning system as it anticipates a refresh of the national planning policy framework towards the end of the year. A further risk to supplies is that the vast majority of current planning permissions expire in February 2042.
The BGS AM2023 report shows that total permitted reserves of aggregate in Great Britain, (including sites worked in the past but still containing reserves and sites that have yet to be opened) at the end of 2023 were 5,106 million tonnes (Mt). Crushed rock accounted for 90% (4,589 Mt) and sand & gravel the remaining 10% (518 Mt).
Total permitted reserves in Great Britain have decreased by 359 Mt (7%) since 2019. In England and Wales, total permitted reserves show a 10% decrease of 396 Mt since the previous report (2019) when total reserves for aggregate use were 4,157 Mt, comprising 3,697 Mt of crushed rock and 460 Mt of sand and gravel.
In 2023, total consumption of primary aggregates in Great Britain was 164.9 Mt in 2023, of which 137.1 Mt was used in England, 15.5 Mt in Scotland and 11.5 Mt in Wales. AM2023 does not consider the contribution of recycled or secondary aggregates (those derived from demolition or industrial by-products) which MPA data shows account for around a third of the total aggregates consumed in Great Britain.
The importance of inter-regional supply reinforces the need for minerals to be planned strategically. Inter-regional flows of crushed rock are significantly larger than for sand and gravel because of the overall larger demand for crushed rock, particularly for roadstone, and because some regions, including London, the southeast and east of England have only minor or inferior quality crushed rock resources.
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