6.1 This Plan is intended to guide the three Councils in the exercise of their powers as Waste Planning Authorities. To that extent the three Councils will be responsible for the implementation of the policies contained in this Plan within their own administrative boundaries.

6.2 It is recognised that waste management is a complex field of activity and one that is subject to many kinds of change, including technological, economic and international change. The Plan has been prepared on the basis of the best information available at the present time. Good information is essential for the formulation of sound waste management policies including the sources, amounts and types of controlled and other wastes.

6.3 The Environment Agency is currently undertaking a programme of research to develop life cycle assessment as a decision aid for waste management. Life cycle assessment is a means of quantifying for a given product or for a service system (such as managing an amount of waste) the resources used, as well as the associated releases to air, water and land (environmental burdens). It is a technique in which the inputs and outputs of a particular process or practice are systematically identified and quantified from "cradle to grave". The Life Cycle Assessment technique should be a useful decision aid when the review of this Plan commences.

6.4 A review of this Plan will have to commence quickly after adoption in order to plan properly beyond 2006 and to enable the amendment of policies, if necessary, to reflect any changed circumstances.

6.5 The three Councils will carry out regular monitoring of all waste management sites to ensure that operations and uses are being carried out in accordance with planning permissions and conditions attached to them. Because the dividing line between planning and pollution control is not always clear cut, the three Councils acknowledge that certain aspects of monitoring and enforcement will need to be carried out in conjunction with the Environment Agency to ensure that conditions on both planning permissions and site licences are carefully monitored and any unauthorised development is regularised.

6.6 Where breaches of planning control occur at sites, a resolution of the matter will normally be sought by discussion and negotiation in the first instance. However, the three Councils will not hesitate to initiate any action that is considered necessary in order to remedy breaches of planning control. Enforcement action may be taken in respect of operations carried out without planning permission or in breach of conditions and limitations attached to a permission. The Planning and Compensation Act 1991 introduced new powers to serve "Planning Contravention" and "Breach of Condition" Notices. In considering whether the instigation of enforcement action is in the public interest the three Councils will have regard to Planning Policy Guidance Note 18 (PPG18) and any Enforcement Policy that may have been adopted.