• National legislation, supported by planning policy and good practice guidance, issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and its predecessor departments;
• Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) prepared by Regional Assemblies;
• Local development frameworks (LDF) including a number of local development documents, and various associated documents prepared by local planning authorities (LPAs); and
• Planning applications determined by the relevant local authority or, on occasion, by the Secretary of State for CLG. 

• to ensure the prudent and sustainable use of minerals and recycling of suitable materials;
• to conserve mineral resources through appropriate domestic provision and timing of supply;
• to safeguard mineral resources as far as possible;
• to prevent or minimise the production of mineral waste;
• to secure working practices which prevent or reduce, as far as possible, impacts on the environment and human health arising from the extraction, processing or transportation of minerals;
• to protect internationally and nationally designated areas of landscape value and nature conservation importance from minerals development, other than in exception circumstances;
• to secure adequate and steady supplies of minerals needed by society and the economy within the limits set by the environment, assessed through sustainability appraisal, without irreversible damage;
• to maximise the benefits and minimise the impacts of minerals operations over their full life cycle;
• to protect and seek to enhance the overall quality of the environment once extraction has ceased, through high standards of restoration, and to safeguard the long-term potential of land for a wide range of after uses (mineral extraction is a temporary, although sometimes protracted, use of land);
• to secure closer integration of minerals planning policy with national policy on sustainable construction and waste management and other applicable environmental protection legislation; and
• to encourage the use of high quality materials for the purposes for which they are most suitable. 

In addition, other MPS and Mineral Planning Guidance notes (MPGs) deal with specific detailed advice on control of environmental impacts of mineral extraction:

• MPG5 Stability in Surface Mineral Workings and Tips – stability is administered through the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Regulations 1969 but may also be a planning consideration. There are detailed provisions for assessment, inspection of, and reporting on, slopes. 
• MPG7 The Reclamation of Mineral Workings – this sets out detailed advice on restoration and aftercare of sites to a variety of uses (agriculture, forestry, amenity, nature conservation, and built development) including both land and water uses. Information relevant to planning conditions includes that on soil handling, storage and emplacement, soil making materials, landform and landscape, infilling with mineral or controlled wastes, restoration (including removal of plant and machinery, establishing vegetation, use of fertilisers, drainage, irrigation, and control of weeds, livestock and pests), and on standards of, and arrangements for, aftercare.
• MPS2 Controlling and mitigating the environmental effects of mineral working – this covers visual intrusion, dewatering, water pollution, noise, dust/fine particulates, blasting, and traffic, as wells as effects on landscape, agricultural land, soil resources, ecology and wildlife, and sites of nature conservation, archaeological and heritage importance. The aim is to keep impacts to an acceptable minimum; limiting degradation of the environment and adopting appropriate amelioration measures. It sets out practice for community consultation and involvement and for Environmental Management Systems. Advice on dust and noise takes account of the sensitivity of “receptors” and methods of assessment and reduction. In the case of noise, an upper limit is defined and also a level by which ambient background levels should not be exceeded. 
• MPG14 Environment Act 1995 Review of Mineral Planning Permissions – provides advice on the review of minerals planning permissions and the updating of conditions to better reflect current practices. 

The relevant Secretaries of State have the power to call in applications for their own determination (in practice, done only sparingly for particularly contentious applications) as well as determining appeals against local authority decisions on the basis of a recommendation by an independent planning inspector.

Environmental Impact Assessment is required for development proposals that may have significant adverse environmental effects. The LPA determines whether EIA is necessary in respect of a planning application. In practice, EIA is required for most minerals proposals. 

The LPA, on receiving a planning application, examines it to establish whether it is accompanied by adequate information for it to be determined. If not, the LPA may request reasonable additional information from the applicant. Applicants are encouraged to undertake pre-application discussions with LPA officials to help ensure that proposals conform to policy and are accompanied by all necessary information. Applications set out proposed measures for minimising environmental impacts and nuisance and measures for restoration and after-care of the site to ensure successful subsequent use. All interested parties, including the general public, are consulted on planning applications.

Section 106 agreements (named after a section in the legislation) are negotiated for those matters that cannot be controlled through planning conditions (e.g. lorry routing).  However this provision may be overtaken by new arrangements for planning gain supplements that are currently being considered by HM Treasury. Planning conditions and section 106 agreements are enforced by the MPA. 

The operator pays for regular inspections of the site. Conditions for rehabilitation of the site to agriculture, forestry or nature conservation uses are subject to review and updating to make sure that these keep pace with current best practices although, in some circumstances compensation may be payable to the operator if conditions are altered. 

Matters covered by conditions include, as appropriate, measures to address:

• noise
• dust and air quality
• blasting and vibration [rarely significant in sand and gravel extraction]
• mineral waste
• visual intrusion 
• protection of archaeological and heritage features
• protection of habitats
• protection of geological and geomorphological features
• traffic
• groundwater
• surface water
• land instability
• landscape character
• the start date and duration of the permission
• restoration and aftercare 

Resources of suitable building and roofing stone are geologically relatively scarce therefore there is a limited choice concerning locations at which they can be quarried. These occurrences are not necessarily in the places where the least disturbance to the landscape, habitats and people will take place but, like all other minerals, these can only be worked where they are found, subject to suitable planning and environmental controls.

However, many building and roofing stone operations differ in character from other, more familiar, types of quarries. Although these materials are sometimes produced as by-products at large quarries, most sites are relatively small or even very small. Stone has to be extracted carefully to avoid damage; therefore processes such as production blasting are, as far as possible, avoided in favour of methods such as manually using wedges, hydraulic methods for prising stone apart, and rock saws. Often only small tonnages are extracted, sometimes sporadically (e.g. seasonally). Therefore disturbance during extraction and traffic to and from the site are often significantly less than at large-scale quarries for other materials. On the other hand, low rates of extraction may result in sites being worked over a very long time. Policies for extraction need, where appropriate, to make allowance for these matters. In some operations, there may be significant quantities of waste rock that is unsuitable for building stone but which can be crushed as aggregate if circumstances, and planning permissions, permit. If the material is not used then it may remain in tips for some time before it can be backfilled into the quarry. However some building stone operations produce little waste rock. 

Because resources of suitable material are scarce, it is important to safeguard these, as far as possible, from other forms of surface development that might prevent future extraction such as being built over. Sites worked many years ago for major buildings such as cathedrals and castles may have become lost through infilling or natural regeneration. Because of this, and the slow rate of working at many sites, potential conflicts may develop between obtaining suitable stone and conservation of biodiversity, species, and industrial archaeology. However suitable stone, in terms of technical and aesthetic properties, is essential for repair of the cultural heritage and there may be no viable alternatives to the original source. Therefore planning guidance emphasises the need to identify and safeguard important sources of building and roofing stone and for careful liaison between English Heritage, Natural England and the MPAs. Discussion between English heritage and Natural England have taken place and English Heritage has sponsored a programme of research to address the issue. 

Supply for new construction is needed both for building in styles compatible with existing local structures and for new prestige developments. Sale of stone for these purposes often keeps a quarry economically viable and thus can underpin the continued supply of stone for repair. Similarly, sale of by products such as crushing of some poorer quality stone for use as aggregates can help to make a site economically viable, although this will also increase the environmental impacts. 

Building and roofing stone is sometimes obtained by underground mining. This may reduce surface environmental impacts but needs to be undertaken with care to avoid ground subsidence (see Planning Policy Guidance Note 14 Annex 2 Subsidence and planning).