Environmental Permitting

In the UK, it has been a requirement since 1990 for certain industrial sectors to obtain authorisation to operate specified categories of installations. Since then, the regulatory regime has been amended on several occasions, to take account of the European Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) and other directives requiring the permitting of specific activities. This culminated with the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR), introduced into England and Wales in April 2010, and which require an operator to obtain a permit from the Environment Agency or the Local Authority for certain specified activities (see our Environmental Permit Application page.) In addition to the sectors included from the outset, the permitting regime now extends to waste management, offshore installations, discharges made to watercourses and activities involving groundwater, radioactive substances, radioactive waste, and mining waste. Similar legislation for permitting is applicable in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

What is the issue?

To meet the demands for environmental protection, the design and operation of a facility, or the carrying out of specified activities, are required to address specific environmental impacts by using appropriate management and technologies that employ Best Available Techniques (BAT). These have an ongoing theme of continual improvement for the regulated facility and activity.  A permit, or variation, has to be in place before a plant design is commissioned or an activity is started or changed.

It is important to appreciate that demands placed upon proposed developments from the planning consent process, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH), can also directly influence the approach taken to an Environmental Permit Application.

Why CRA?

CRA offers environmental permitting support that includes preparing and contributing to applications for new permits and variations to existing permits.  This can extend to integrating the demands from planning consents and COMAH, and the findings of EIAs. CRA also carries out compliance audits and BAT reviews.

We approach permitting assignments in the context of the business need and also the commercial sensitivities and value drivers for our clients and their business going forward. The depth of our skills and experience enables CRA to provide independently credible permitting support that allows our clients to make strategic and operational management decisions as needed.

For additional information on how CRA could help you, please contact Bryan Hughes on bhughes@cra.co.uk or 0115 965 6700.