The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have this month announced that a single environmental permit will be introduced under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2007/3538, from 6 April 2008. The new environmental permit will replace, combine and streamline the previous waste management licensing and pollution prevention and control systems. As a result, businesses should find it easier and less costly to be environmentally responsible. Environmental permits are required for industrial and waste activities which could harm human health or the environment unless they are controlled.
The changes resulting from this Environmental Permitting Programme (EPP) were consulted on last year under the Joint Better Regulation Initiative, through which DEFRA worked closely with the Environment Agency and the Welsh Assembly. The new system is aimed at providing a number of benefits including a simpler permit application process, clearer guidance and more flexibility for businesses to make change.
The new Regulations have been complex to establish as they combine over 40 separate legal instruments into a single set of Regulations whilst at the same time reducing them to less than a third of the original length. The new permit will replace several existing permits with a single site based environmental permit.
There will also be a new standard rules permit for lower risk waste activities. These are being developed in consultation with industry and will be published by the Agency well before the new system comes into force. Once the new system is up and running all existing waste management licences and pollution prevention and control permits will automatically become environmental permits. Environmental permits will also be issued against outstanding applications, should they be successful.
