logoSouthwest Environmental Limited
Environmental Consultancy Services to Industry, Business and Individuals Email Us
London
02076 920 670
Exeter  
01392 927 961
Manchester 
01612 970 026 
Bristol 
01173 270 092 

Environmental Permitting

environmental permit consultantsSouthwest Environmental Limited can undertake an Environmental Permit Application on your behalf, we also undertake Part B Permit Applications. Please contact us for a quote.

The Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010  (EPR 2010) are a set of regulations designed to help mitigate industry's impact on the environment. If you need help with your Environmental Permitting application then Southwest Environmental Limited can help.

Many activities are now classed as permitted activities,  other activities may be able to obtain an exemption from the permitting system. The Environmental Permitting Regulations are administered and enforced by the Environment Agency.

By using a consultant to make your application you will be utilising an agent who can work with you to implement a cost effective application.

Environmental Permitting (EP) 2010 can help lower risk to your brand, and the environment, whilst delivering cost savings from reduced consumption of energy and materials. It will also improve the image of your operation, making you more attractive to perspective clients.

Please feel free to telephone the office for a free informal discussion regarding any of the services we provide. Detailed written quotations can be provided upon request.

Read About Some Examples

Composting Environmental Permit EPR

Waste Oils Environmental Permit EPR

Mobile Land Spreading Environmental Permit

Further Information on Environmental Permit Applications

You can browse the below tables or type in a subject in the below search box to search this permitting information on this website. You will be briefly taken to DuckDuckGo, but if you click on a link, and you will come back to this site.



Environmental Permitting Links

A

Agricultural Benefit Statement for Spreading Permit

Anaerobic Digestion Permit

Asbestos waste transfer station permit

 B

Bespoke Environmental Permit?

What are the Benefits of Introducing Environmental Permitting?

BSI PAS 100 Standard

C

Compost Quality Protocol (CQP)

Carbon Capture and Storage Environmental Permit

Complexity Attribute Look-Up Table

D

Dust Management Plan

My Environmental Permit is in the Determination Stage, what is that?

My Environmental Permit is Not Duly Made, what does that mean?

List of Environmental Permit Disposal Codes

E

List of Environmental Permitting Exemptions

F

Environmental Permitting FAQs

Flood Risk Activities Permits

What Forms do I need to Fill Out for an Environmental Permit?

H

What is a H1 Risk Assessment?

I

Making Changes to an IPPC Permit

Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC)

Inert and excavation waste transfer station

N

Noise Management Plan

O

What is OPRA?

Odour Management Plan

P

Pros and Cons of Environmental Permitting

Environment Agency Pre-Application Advice

My Paragraph Exemption is due to expire, do I need a permit?

What Policy implements the Environmental Permitting Regulations?

R

Regulation 61 Notice

A Review of the Environmental Permitting Regulations - Read More

What are the main Requirements of the Environmental Permitting Regulations?

S

What Documents Support an Environmental Permit Application?

List of Standard Environmental Permits

Site Management Plan

Standard or Bespoke Environmental Permit?

Site Condition Report

Step by Step Guide for an Environmental Permit Application

How do I Surrender an Environmental Permit?

T

Technical Competence

Why Environmental Permitting Application Process is so Terrible

Thames Water Sewage Works Location Map

W

Water Abstraction Permits

Cost to Set Up a Waste Transfer Station

Where will SWEL undertake environmental permitting work?

Permits with Waste Recovery

How many Weeks or Months does an Environmental Permit Application Take?

 

Example Environmental Permits

Waste Transfer Environmental Permit

List of Environmental Permit Recovery Codes

Permit Application Fee Charges

Inert and excavation waste transfer station

 

What Documents Support an Environmental Permit Application?

Here are a selection of documents which may support an Environmental Permit Application click on a link to find to more.

Noise Management Plan

Site Management Plan

Technical Competence

Fire Prevention Plan

Odour Management Plan

Site Condition Report

Waste Recovery Plan

noise vs distance graph

Pros and Cons of Environmental Permitting

Insurance

Operating a site under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 means that you may learn to lower operational risk. The conditions of the permit will lead to your operation being run in a safer manner, which in the long run will keep your insurance costs down. Some of the largest liabilities associated with waste operations are environmental in their nature.

Image

If you have a contract with a company to deal with their waste, you will want to create a good impression. Operating under Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 means that your site will be less likely to have image tarnishing environmental slip ups.

OPRA scoring is again an important rank of your operations quality. If you are bidding for a contract a lower OPRA score may give you the advantage.

Records

Just a being registered for VAT keeps yours books up together in the financial sense so do the Environmental Permitting Regulation 2010 in an . Records of deliveries, climate data, and waste processing will give you a mass of useful information that can work in your favour when settling disputes or avoiding liabilities. Measures to Reduce Waste

Cons

 

Standard or Bespoke Environmental Permit?

Standard Permit

It is in your interest to avoid bespoke permits, they are most costly to implement and require more "upkeep" during operation.

Standard permits are available for various activities these include for a comprehensive list click here. If your operation is on the list then there is a possibility that you will be able to apply for a standard permit.

Don't forget to check whether your operation is covered by an exemption.

Standard or Bespoke Permit Examples

Example 1: Capacity

If we look at a Standard Permit in this case  SR2008No9 - asbestos waste transfer station we can see that the rules stipulate;

"The total quantity of waste that can be accepted at a site under these rules must be less than 3,650 tonnes a year."

If your operation handles more than 3,650 tonnes a year then you will not meet the rules for the standard permit, you will have to apply for a bespoke permit.

Example 2: Location

If we look at a Standard Permit in this case SR2008No24_75kte – clinical waste & healthcare waste transfer station we can see that the rules stipulate:

"permitted activities are not carried out within 200 metres of a European Site1, Ramsar site or a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)."

If your operation is sited within 200 meters of the above mentioned sites then you will not meet the rules for the standard permit, you will have to apply for a bespoke permit.

Bespoke Permits

If you are not on the List of Standard Permits then you will have to apply for a Bespoke Environmental Permit, things get a lot more complicated here, you can ring or email for a free initial consultation.

 

How do I Surrender an Environmental Permit?

At the winding up of your permitted activity, you may well have to surrender your environmental permit, unless you intend to transfer your environmental permit. There are various processes that need to occur in order to surrender your environmental permit, these might include:

1 - You can apply to your regulator to change (vary), transfer, or cancel (surrender) your environmental permit in England and Wales. The process is less stringent for mobile plant.

2 - Your application may need public consultation if it is a substantial change or your regulator thinks that consultation is necessary.

3 - You will have to satisfy the Environment Agency that you have looked after the site during you stay, completing your Site Condition Report may be a part of this.

If you would like SWEL to manage the surrender of your environmental permit, then please contact us for a free initial consultation on the matter.

Email or Phone

 

Step by Step Guide for an Environmental Permit Application

1 - Find Out which Permit You Need

First look through a list of environmental permits and see which one best fits your activity, are some permits descriptions are quiet obvious, for if you are windrow composting the you will probably need an open windrow composting permit. Some operation may require a bespoke permit.

However if you have a yards where you sort segregated rubbish, before it is sent of site for further treatment what kind of permit is that? Waste Transfer Environmental Permit but depending on your waste types and the how the site is operated would it count as an SR2008No1 or an SR2008No2?

You may only need an exemption.

2 - Assess you Operation

It could be that your operation has grown to the point where compliance with an environmental permit is required, or it may be that you are setting up a new business. Either way upon application for a permit it is a good opportunity to look over the environmental risk of your operation. What can be changed to increase you chances of be granted and environmental permit.

Look around you site and imagine your self in the shoes of the environment agency, what do you think they might pick up on, that leaky oil tank, the amount of litter blowing around, your lack of a perimeter fence?

By checking off the requirements of the permit with what you actually have before the Environment Agency becomes involved shows that you are proactive and may well ensure that your permit application is successful.

3 - Prepare and Submit your Application

After you have made sure that your site meets the requirements of the environmental permit it is time to start preparing your application. Fill in the Forms, and submit your supporting documents with the application.

The application process may take considerable time from start to finish, with various consultation etc, so expect the process from start to finish to take around 3 or more months.

 

My Environmental Permit is Not Duly Made, what does that mean?

Duly made checks are perhaps the one of the worst aspects of the permitting system, they can be used to endlessly delay the the progress of your application, often with Junior Officers, making ill informed decisions on non-material content. Why Environmental Permitting Application Process is so Terrible.  The internal document used by the EA with a list of duly made checks used to be one side of A4, with only basic checks. This checklist has now expanded to 15 sides of A4, and is a major obstruction to getting an environmental permit granted.

"Assessing whether an application is duly made is not a detailed technical evaluation*. We should not make a judgment about the merits of the operator’s proposals at this stage. For example, it may be clear from an application that a permit is unlikely to be granted because the environmental effects would be unacceptable. This would not stop the application being duly made. The fact that the environmental impacts would be unacceptable should result in us refusing the application (or imposing conditions to mitigate the environmental impact) rather than us considering that the application is not complete."

*It is a detailed evaluation. Once an application is in determination (the next step after duly making) the EA have 8 week to issue the permit. This is why they have shifted lots of the checks that used to be carried out at determination on to duly making, it takes the pressure off. A bit naughty really.

When you submit your permit to the Environment Agency they will carry out an initial check to see whether or not you have included all of the necessary information needed. The information required to get you application duly made changes with each type of permit. For example:

Composting Permit: Will require as a minimum the following documents.

- Site Condition Report
- Odour Management Plan
- Environmental Management System

A Recovery Activity Permit Such as as the ones listed below:

SR2008No27 Mobile plant for the treatment of waste soils and contaminated material, substances or products
SR2009No1 Pet cemetery
SR2010No4 Mobile plant for land spreading
SR2010No5 Mobile plant for the reclamation, restoration or improvement of land
SR2010No6 Mobile plant for land spreading of sewage sludge
SR2010No7 Use of waste in construction (up to 50,000 tonnes of waste)
SR2010No8 Use of waste in construction (up to 100,000 tonnes of waste)
SR2010No9 Use of waste for the reclamation, restoration or improvement of land (up to 50,000 tonnes)  
SR2010No10 Use of waste for the reclamation, restoration or improvement of land (up to 100,000 tonnes)

 

My Environmental Permit is in the Determination Stage, what is that?

Once your Environmental Permit Application has been "Duly Made" it will enter the determination stage. This involves the checking of the submitted information with a fine toothed comb, looking at figures and verifying the integrity of the submitted documents.

Content of documents may be called in to question, inadequacies in the quality of data may be highlighted. 99% of the time all will be well and the permit will be issued within a few weeks . . . (Update 2018): this used to be the case. . . Permits Typically Take a Long Time to be Issued.

The Determination Stage of a permit application the process of validating the submitted information, and assessing its "fit" within the chosen area of the proposed permitted site.

Where will SWEL undertake environmental permitting work?

SWEL have offices in London, Bristol and Exeter and will undertake environmental permitting work throughout the UK.

Carbon Capture and Storage Environmental Permit

Despite the growth in renewable as a percentage of our energy mix, in the UK there is a very large gap emerging as our demand for energy grows and no new power stations are being built. There is a much publicised need to lower the carbon intensity of our electricity supply, yet with we still rely on fossil fuels greatly.

One way to decrease the carbon intensity of the UK's grid electricity is to install carbon capture devices on existing fossil fuel power stations such as coal, oil and gas. In order to install one of these retro fit mitigation system the operator will require an Environmental Permit.

SWEL have been helping companies obtain environmental permits right from the start of the EPR regime, and are well placed to provide a efficient and cost effective environmental permit application service. More Information on Carbon Capture and Storage Environmental Permits.

 

How many Weeks does an Environmental Permit Application Take?

The below table shows the time for permit application. However, it should be borne in mind that when the application is submitted it may not be "picked up" for around a month, so for real world timings add a month to the below. Our record time is 6 weeks, our longest application was over year!

Transfer or partial transfer  >>>>>Two months

Standard permit (other than installations) >>>>>>> Three months

Mobile plant permit  >>>>>> Three months

Variations (without public consultation) >>Three months

Surrender or partial surrender >>>>>Three months

Applications with public consultation >>>>>> Four months

·         standard permit for installations;

·         bespoke permit; and

·         variations

Environmental Permit Consultants Bristol

Environmental Permit Consultants Exeter

Environmental Permit Consultants London

Google

Disclaimer - Information on this Site

S.D. Content

Environmental Permit Consultants

Bristol - 01173 270 092

Exeter - 01398 331 258

London - 02076 920 670logo_image