You can use the following guidance to help you complete your application and comply with the conditions of your environmental permit.
Environmental Permitting Regulations
Information to help you understand the wider regulatory framework:
Government guidance
Defra has produced a series of guidance documents. These include 'Core Environmental Permitting Guidance', which describes the general permitting and compliance requirements, and guidance on the European directives which are implemented through the Environmental Permitting Regulations.
Our Guidance
Read 'Getting the Basics Right' (GTBR). This document specifies most of the standards and measures that standard permit holders will need to know. Applicants for bespoke permits will also find most of the basic information they require but they will also need to use other technical guidance. Annex 1 of GTBR lists the other technical guidance you may need.
In June 2009 we published an updated version of GTBR. In addition to incorporating feedback received to date, the main changes involved simplifying the guidance on management systems and including basic guidance for mining waste operations. We also amended the sections on point source and fugitive emissions, odour, noise and vibration to reflect recent changes to our bespoke permit conditions and standard rules:
Regulatory Guidance notes are Environment Agency guidance on policy and legal interpretation issues associated with implementing the regulations. They sit in a hierarchy – below government guidance and above our technical guidance and internal operational instructions.
These contain both general and specific standards and measures which operators must use. You can use the technical guidance when preparing applications and for operating your facility. Our staff use the standards and measures both in determining applications and for compliance assessment.
There is one application form in six parts, which must be used to apply for a new bespoke or standard permit or to vary, transfer or surrender your permit. Guidance on how to complete the form is provided.
Other information
To find out about the mechanism we use to assess risk of EP site operation, please visit our Opra page. Opra is a risk screening tool we use in our work regulating operators under the Environmental Permitting Regulations. It allows us to allocate our resources appropriately and we also use it to inform our charges.
Our Environmental Permitting charges pages will explain how much a permit will cost.
