Environmental permits

You must have an environmental permit if you operate a regulated facility in England or Wales.

A regulated facility includes:

installations or mobile plants carrying out listed activities
waste operations
waste mobile plant
mining waste operations

Listed activities include:

energy – burning fuel, gasification, liquefaction and refining activities
metals – manufacturing and processing metals
minerals – manufacturing lime, cement, ceramics or glass
chemicals – manufacturing chemicals, pharmaceuticals or explosives, storing chemicals in bulk
waste – incinerating waste, operating landfills, recovering waste
solvents – using solvents
other – manufacturing paper, pulp and board, treating timber products, coating, treating textiles and printing, manufacturing new tyres, intensive pig and poultry farming

Listed activities are divided into 3 categories: Part A(1), Part A(2) and Part B:

Part A permits

Part A permits control activities with a range of environmental impacts, including:

emissions to air, land and water
energy efficiency
waste reduction
raw materials consumption
noise, vibration and heat
accident prevention

Part B permits

Part B permits control activities which cause emissions to air.

The permit your business requires depends on the specific processes involved and resulting emissions.

Request a permit

Permits are available from the Environment Agency or ourselves (the regulator) depending upon the category your business falls within:

part A(1) installations or mobile plants are regulated by the Environment Agency
part A(2) and Part B installations or mobile plants are regulated by the local authority, except waste operations carried out at part B installations which are regulated by the Environment Agency
waste operations or waste mobile plant carried on other than at an installation, or by Part A or Part B mobile plants, are regulated by the Environment Agency
mining waste operations are regulated by the Environment Agency

Eligibility criteria

Applications must be made on the form provided by us or online and must include specified information which will vary depending on the operation.

If further information is required the applicant will be notified by us and must include specified information which will vary depending on the operation. They will need to provide this information or the application will be deemed to be withdrawn.

The application must be from the operator of the regulated facility.

For waste operations no licence will be granted unless any required planning permission had first been granted.

Application evaluation process

The application must be provided on the form provided by ourselves and must include the relevant fee.

Application should give all the information a local authority needs to make a determination (duly made). To that end pre-application discussions with the regulator are recommended.

Where an application does not contain all the required information the regulator will have to request additional information delaying determination.

Applications that are not duly made will normally be returned along with any fee.

We will normally determine the application within 4 months of receipt (3 months for dry cleaners).

We will pay regard to the protection of the environment taken as a whole by, in particular, preventing or, where that is not practicable, reducing emissions into the air, water and land.

As the regulator we may inform the public of the application and must consider any representations.

The application must be from the operator of the regulated facility and the regulator must be satisfied that they must operate the facility in accordance with the environmental permit.

It is in the public interest that we process your application before it can be granted. If you have not heard from us within a reasonable period, please contact us.

How we will notify you

You will be notified in writing of any decisions relating to your application as soon as reasonably practicable.

Timescales

Applications will normally be determined within 4 months of receipt.

We would recommend that you contact us for an application form. Alternatively application forms can be downloaded on this page.

The public register

Our role is to write a permit that contains a number of conditions to control the way the process operates and set emission standards or pollution levels.

We inspect these processes routinely, and more often where we suspect problems may be happening. Breaching the conditions we set may lead to enforcement action and can lead to prosecution. We must also keep information about these processes on a Public Register.

Appeals

An applicant who is refused an environmental permit may appeal to the Secretary of State. Appeals must be lodged no later than six months from the date of the decision.

If an application to vary, transfer or surrender an environmental permit has been refused or if the applicant objects to conditions imposed on the environmental permit they may appeal to the Secretary of State.

Appeals must be lodged in relation to a regulator initiated variation, a suspension notice or an enforcement notice, not later than two months from the date of the variation or notice and in any other case not later than six months from the date of the decision.

Compensation maybe payable in relation to conditions affecting certain interests in land.

Complaints and comments

For consumers we would always advise that in the event of a complaint, contact is made with the trader by you – preferably in the form of a letter (with proof of delivery).

If that has not worked, if you are located:

in the UK, ask Citizen’s Advice
outside the UK, contact the UK European Consumer Centre.

European Economic Area

We are part of the European network for delivering information relating to doing business in the European Economic Area.

For full information on the EU Services Directive and Points of Single Contact for other member states visit the European Commission website.

We are a part of the European network for delivering information relating to doing business in the European Economic Area. For full information on the EU Services Directive and Points of Single Contact for other member states from the European Commission.