The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have this month announced a consultation on creating a streamlined environmental permitting and compliance system. The Environmental Permitting Programme will look at possible ways to combine the pollution prevention and control and waste management licensing systems, by simplifying the permitting and compliance provisions without undermining environmental protection or human health. The new approach which DEFRA estimate could save industry and regulators around £70 million over ten years, will create the potential to do the same with other permitting systems in the future and should offer fewer and more concise rules with clearer guidance.
The proposals would involve more substantial changes to the waste management system than to the relatively recent system for pollution prevention and control and would allow the focus to be more on environmental outcomes and less on how they are achieved.
This consultation covers England and Wales only, with the Scottish Executive to consult on improving their waste management licensing regime. The Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland will decide on similar changes after considering the outcome of DEFRA's consultation. The deadline for any comments is 15 May 2006, with a consultation on the Regulations planned for Autumn 2006. It is hoped the new system will be operational by early 2008.
