The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, No. 1154 (as amended)

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 aim to protect the environment by regulating certain activities that may have an impact on it. The regulations require operators of certain industrial activities to obtain an environmental permit from the relevant environmental regulator before starting operations. The permit sets out conditions that the operator must comply with to prevent or reduce any potential harm to the environment. The regulations also provide for the monitoring, inspection and enforcement of the permit conditions to ensure compliance. The regulations apply to activities listed in the Schedule to the regulations, including waste management, water discharge, and industrial production. They also apply to activities that have the potential to cause environmental harm or pose a risk to human health.

The schedule to the regulations lists a range of activities that require an environmental permit to operate. The activities are categorized into the following parts:

Part A(1) - Activities with the potential to cause the most pollution, such as large-scale combustion, chemical production, and waste treatment and disposal.

Part A(2) - Activities that have the potential to cause significant pollution, including some types of animal rearing, metal production, and solvent use.

Part B - Activities with the potential to cause less pollution, such as some types of vehicle refuelling, dry cleaning, and concrete production.

Part C - Other activities, such as some types of storage and handling of radioactive materials, which are not covered by Parts A or B.

The activities listed in the Schedule are varied, but they all have the potential to cause harm to the environment or human health if not properly regulated. The environmental permit sets out specific conditions that the operator must comply with to prevent or reduce any potential harm.

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 require operators of certain activities to provide evidence of their compliance with the permit conditions. This includes providing information on their operations, such as the types and quantities of substances they handle or emit, and their methods of control and monitoring. The regulations also require the operator to provide evidence of their financial capacity to comply with the permit conditions, such as proof of insurance or other forms of financial security.

In addition, the regulations require the operator to monitor and report on their activities and the environmental impact of their operations. The monitoring data and reports are used to assess compliance with the permit conditions and to inform any necessary enforcement actions.

The regulations also provide for public participation, requiring the operator to make certain information available to the public, such as permit applications, monitoring data and reports, and details of any enforcement actions taken.

Operators are required to keep records of their activities, monitoring data, and any incidents that may have resulted in non-compliance with the permit conditions. The records must be kept for a specified period of time and made available to the environmental regulator upon request.