Conclusions

The Guide to Good Practice⁷⁸, summarised in this report, illustrates a wide range of potential impacts on both groundwater and surface water. It also demonstrates, however, that opportunities exist to prevent or reduce these effects through careful assessment, planning and monitoring, and through the implementation of appropriate mitigation or remedial measures.

The guidance places emphasis on the need for open dialogue and forward planning as a means of avoiding potential impacts through careful site location, and on the implementation of studies and mitigation measures that are appropriate to each specific case - i.e. justified by the level of potential risk involved and fit for the intended purpose.

By seeking ways of allowing mineral development to go ahead in a carefully controlled manner, the guidance can help MPAs to achieve an acceptable balance between environmental and economic priorities, and thereby establish a sustainable planning framework.