Industrial Pollution Control

The environmental health (pollution and safety) team issue certain industrial installations with a permit to operate. These impose conditions to ensure that emissions to air (Part B installations) and for some water and land also (Part A2 installations), do not harm the environment or human health. This page tells you how to apply for a permit under the environmental permitting programme.

On 6 April 2008 the national regime for regulating industrial installations which might pollute air, water and land has changed. The Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000 have been replaced by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. While the new regulations do not significantly alter the workings of the previous regime, they aim to:

• protect the environment and human health
• deliver permitting and compliance effectively and efficiently in a way that provides increased clarity and minimises the administrative burden on both the regulator and the operators of facilities
• encourage regulators to promote best practice in the operation of regulated facilities, and
• continue to fully implement European legislation

Industrial activities subject to environmental permitting are those installations:

• regulated under LAPPC (Part B installations) whose air emissions have in most cases been regulated by local authorities under similar such controls since 1991
• regulated under LA-IPPC (Part A2 installations) emissions to air, water (including discharges to sewer) and land, plus a range of other activities with an environmental impact, which must be considered together

Local authorities may additionally have responsibility for regulating some waste installations, primarily because they are on the same site as a Part A2 or B installation.

Please see the DEFRA link below for application forms for both Part A2 and Part B installations, and additional information including process/sector guidance notes.