Suitable locations: Equity and sustainability in the minerals planning process

This paper examines the connections between uneven development and sustainable development, focusing on the British land use planning system where tensions are emerging between 'environment-led' and 'balancing' interpretations of sustainability. The key argument is that the spatial dynamics of uneven development are an integral component of these tensions, and their reconciliation, as sustainable development is interpreted through planning processes in different localities and at different levels of governance. This perspective is developed by examining British minerals planning policy and the conflicts generated by the Lingerbay superquarry proposal on the Isle of Harris. While the UK Government has sought to use the planning system to find a politically acceptable 'spatial fix' for aggregates production, rather than manage resource demand, presumptions about uneven development which apparently underpin this policy are being challenged, not least for their equity implications. Interpreting sustainable development in ways which are sensitive to different contexts and the connections between them remains a major challenge.