Environmental permits: when and how you are charged

Question 1

1.  General information about charges

Accepted Answer

This section is about:

the types of charges you need to pay
whether the charges are fixed costs or charged on a time and materials basis
who needs to pay for charges

1.1 Application charges

You will need to pay an application charge when you apply for a new permit. The application charge depends on your activity and the type of permit you have. It covers the work the Environment Agency carries out each time they assess (determine) a permit application.

See section 2 on permit application charges for more information about these charges and when you may need to pay extra.

If your application is successful, you may also have to pay to vary, transfer or surrender your permit. You can find more information on:

varying a permit in section 3
transferring a permit in section 4
surrendering a permit in section 5

1.2 Annual subsistence charge

Whilst you have your permit, you will also need to pay an annual subsistence charge. This covers the costs of regulating an activity. For example, carrying out checks to make sure you are complying with the conditions in your permit.

Section 6 on subsistence charges has more information about these charges and when you may need to pay extra.

1.3 Types of charges

Environment Agency application and subsistence charges are based on either:

fixed charges
time and materials charges

The Environment Agency has fixed charges for most customer groups and activities.

1.4 Additional application and subsistence charges

There are additional charges that some customers will need to pay on top of the fixed application and annual subsistence charges.

These additional charges will only apply if the Environment Agency needs to do extra or unusual regulatory work. This could either be when determining a permit application or after a permit has been issued (permit subsistence).

Charges for this extra work will either be a fixed cost or calculated on a time and materials basis.

You will pay a fixed cost additional charge when extra work is needed to support a permit application. For example, at some sites the Environment Agency will need to assess an odour management plan, or for intensive farming installations, a dust and bio-aerosols management plan.

Operators with a waste transfer or treatment permit will pay a fixed cost additional charge for the first year of operations.

You will pay time and materials additional charges when it is hard to predict the amount of work the Environment Agency will need to do. This is so the hourly costs of the officers and equipment involved can be recovered in full.

See section 1.5 to find out when time and materials additional charges will apply.

1.5 Time and materials charges

The Environment Agency uses time and materials charging:

for sites of high public interest (section 2.5 explains these charges)
for staged applications – where you submit your application information in stages (section 2.4 explains these charges)
for discretionary services they can offer, for example enhanced pre-application advice (section 2.3 explains these charges)
where they need to carry out extra (or unplanned) regulatory activities, for example after a pollution incident (section 6.5 explains these charges)
where, after a permit has been issued, they need to carry out extra work to assess or approve information you have submitted to meet a permit condition, for example assessing a fire prevention plan (section 6.6 explains these charges)
for specified radioactive substances activities (section 1.5.1 explains these charges)
for the regulation (but not applications) relating to medium combustion plant
for the regulation of hydraulic fracturing for the purpose of recovering oil and gas
for bespoke groundwater mobile plant permit applications, deployment applications and permit subsistence (section 6.14.3 explains these charges)

For a time and materials approach, the Environment Agency judges how much work is needed to assess a permit application or regulate that activity. They will calculate what to charge you based on the appropriate hourly rate and then invoice you for that amount.

Environment Agency hourly rates reflect the costs of carrying out their activities. Staff will record the amount of time they have spent working on a project, or piece of work for a customer. The hourly rates also include an allowance for support staff and overheads.

For example:

legal advice
work by technical staff who do not time record for charging purposes
accommodation
IT support systems
health and safety
producing guidance
financial services
other support costs

1.5.1 Time and materials for specified radioactive substances activities

A specified radioactive substances activity (SRSA) is either:

a radioactive substance activity carried out at a nuclear site
accumulating or disposing of radioactive waste at a facility with a permit to accumulate and dispose of radioactive waste to land
using radioactive material for generating electricity from fusion, including any associated research and development

The Environment Agency uses time and materials charging for these SRSA permitting activities:

applications
variations
transfers
surrenders

Subsistence charges for sites regulated by the Environment Agency and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are also calculated using time and materials charging. The Environment Agency will give operators a written estimate of the Environment Agency and FSA costs for each site.

The Environment Agency charges £286 an hour for key technical work carried out by specialist nuclear regulation staff. This rate includes an allowance for support work carried out by other staff.

The Environment Agency charges £125 an hour for other technical and support work carried out by technical staff who are not specialist nuclear regulators.

The Environment Agency recovers the costs of running their independent monitoring programmes for SRSAs.

They also recover the costs of meeting their international reporting obligations relating to the disposal of radioactive waste into the environment from SRSAs. This includes work in support of Oslo and Paris Commission (OSPARCOM) reporting obligations.

The Environment Agency may also recover costs if they have to use contracted specialist technical staff to support their regulation of SRSAs.

1.6 Who must pay a charge

An application charge must be paid by the person applying for the permit. Or in the case of a variation or surrender, by the person who holds the permit.

A transfer application charge has to be paid by one or both of the people applying for the transfer of a permit.

Subsistence charges have to be paid by the holder of the permit.

1.7 Payments by householders, charities and public bodies

The charges set out in the charging scheme apply to everyone, including companies, householders, charities and public bodies.

Some activities are likely to be carried out by householders, or for non-commercial purposes. In some specific cases the Environment Agency has chosen not to recover the full costs of regulating those activities.

The Environment Agency does not recover the full cost of processing applications for:

non-commercial flood-risk activities carried out to improve the environment
flood risk activity work in the area of land around a house and carried out by (or on behalf of) the householder under permitted development rights
sewage effluent discharges with a volume up to and including 5 cubic metres a day to surface water or groundwater from domestic households or organisations operating for charitable purposes

A domestic household is a premises that is exempt from business rates.

An organisation operating for charitable purposes must have a charity registration number or a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) charity number.

The full application cost will apply if a sewage effluent discharge with a volume up to and including 5 cubic metres a day to surface water or groundwater is carried out by a mix of:

domestic households
organisations operating for charitable purposes
other applicants who pay the full application cost

The applicants should decide how to split the application costs.

You also do not pay an annual subsistence charge to discharge sewage effluent if both of these apply:

the maximum daily volume of discharge authorised by the permit is 5 cubic metres or less
the permit holder is a domestic householder, or an organisation or entity that operates for charitable purposes

1.8 Charges for closed loop ground source heat pumps for domestic households or community buildings

The charging scheme includes application and subsistence charges for heat transfer from closed-loop ground source heating and cooling systems. Reduced charges apply to this activity where these systems serve domestic households or community buildings as our regulatory effort is less.

A domestic household is a premises that is exempt from business rates.

A community building means a building with the primary objective to improve the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community. Community buildings can include village halls, town halls, churches and education centres.

1.9 Charges for land spreading of sheep dip

The Environment Agency does not recover the full cost of processing applications for land spreading of sheep dip. There are 2 fixed application charges that include the costs of additional assessments in the fixed application charge.

Land spreading of sheep dip – includes specific substances assessment.
Land spreading of sheep dip – includes specific substances assessment and habitats assessment. This application charge applies where one or more of the habitats sites listed in ‘Charges for plans and assessments’ (section 2.8) requires an assessment. This is typically where applications are located close to these sites.

1.10 Charges for future standard rules

The Environment Agency consults on charges for new standard rules. They will do this as part of the consultation on the rules themselves. The Environment Agency will select an appropriate charge for new standard rules from those already used in the tables of charges.

The Environment Agency will confirm the charges that will apply in their published response to the consultation on the standard rules. Those charges will then apply.

Charges that are set in this way will be incorporated into the charging scheme following the next review.

1.11 Inflationary increase to water discharge and groundwater activity charges

Charges relating to water discharge and groundwater activities in this charging scheme will be updated annually on 1 April. The Environment Agency will publish updated charges annually. They will use the the Office for National Statistics measure of Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation as of 30 September in the immediately preceding year. Any increase to charges will be equal to or less than this measure. Increases will be less if they believe the increased costs do not equate to the CPI measure. Charges will be rounded to the nearest pound.

The Environment Agency expects to introduce inflationary increases to all other charges in the charging scheme as and when they are reviewed.

Question 2

2.  Permit application charges

Accepted Answer

This section is about permit application charges and when you need to pay extra application charges.

2.1 New permit charge

You must pay a charge to apply for a new permit. You must pay your charge when you apply.

The application charge depends on your activity and the type of permit you have. You can find the application charges for different activities in the tables of charges.

The baseline charge for an application covers the work the Environment Agency carries out each time they determine a typical permit application.

Some permit applications will need extra work that is not covered by the baseline application charge. In these cases you will need to pay additional charges. For example if:

the permit is of high public interest
an extra technical assessment is needed, for example of an odour management plan

2.2 Basic pre-application advice

Before you apply for a permit, the Environment Agency can give you a limited amount of pre-application advice. This will help you get your application right first time and get a decision more quickly. They can provide this for new permits, variations, transfers and surrender applications. The cost of this advice is included in the application charge.

You must read the relevant Environment Agency guides for your activity before you apply:

2.3 Enhanced pre-application advice

The Environment Agency charges £100 an hour plus VAT for their enhanced pre-application advice service.

The exception to this rate is for specified radioactive substances activities. For these, the charge is £286 an hour for key technical work carried out by specialist nuclear regulation staff and £125 an hour for other work carried out by technical staff who are not specialist nuclear regulators.

This is a discretionary service which you can request if you want more help with your application, need to discuss use of novel technologies or request a staged application (see section 2.4).

The Environment Agency may give you advice by email, phone, video conference or face to face.

Apply for enhanced pre-application advice using the form most appropriate to your main activity.

2.4 Staged application procedure charge

The Environment Agency may agree that you can submit pre-application and application information in stages. For example, this could be where:

the proposal is particularly complex, or includes novel technologies
not all the information is available yet
development will take place in phases (design and construction), such as over 12 months or more
timescales are affected by other authorisations, for example planning permission, development consent order for national significant infrastructure

In these cases, the Environment Agency will charge for the costs of their time and materials spent working on the application. The rate is £100 an hour, with the exception of specified radioactive substances activities (see section 2.3).

Check the guidance on how to send your environmental permit application information in stages.

2.5 High public interest applications charge

Under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, the Environment Agency must publish a public participation statement explaining how they will consult on decisions about environmental permits. In their statement, Environmental permits: when and how we consult, they say they will carry out extra consultation with the public where an application is of high public interest, and they explain what this means.

This extra work would not be covered when applications are made on a fixed charge basis.

If the Environment Agency decides your application is of high public interest, they will charge for any extra costs they incur on a time and materials basis. This includes consultation and assessment activities. This is because the amount of work required for these types of sites can be unpredictable.

They will charge £100 an hour. You must pay these extra charges before your application is determined.

2.6 Advertising charge

If the Environment Agency needs to advertise your application in a newspaper, for example because it is of high public interest, they will need to recover the cost of placing the advert. They will charge you £500 for each application.

2.7 Repeated information notices charge

When determining an application, the Environment Agency may need to send you an information notice to get more details about a particular issue in your application. If they need to send you 3 or more information notices about the same issue, because you have not provided all the information needed on that issue, they will recover their extra costs.

For repeated additional information notices about the same issue, you will need to pay a fixed charge of £1,200 for each notice. You must pay this extra charge before your application is determined. This charge will not apply where the application is for specified radioactive substances activities charged on a time and materials basis.

If the Environment Agency sends you an additional information notice, they will tell you if it is about the same issue as previous notices.

2.8 Charges for plans and assessments

If the Environment Agency needs to carry out additional assessments, they will charge extra for this work. In some cases, the costs of assessing these plans and carrying out additional assessments is included in the fixed application charge. The activity description in table 1 of the environmental permitting tables of charges will say if this is the case.

You must pay this charge when applying for a new permit or if you apply to vary your permit.

The plans and assessments are listed in table 1.19 in the tables of charges.

For certain protected sites, a habitats assessment fixed charge of £779 (or £2,035 for water discharge and groundwater activities) will apply.

This is an assessment of the risks to one or more of these sites:

a European Site within the meaning of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017
a site referred to in the National Planning Policy Framework 2023 as requiring the same assessment as a European Site
a site of special scientific interest within the meaning of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
a marine conservation zone within the meaning of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

For new bespoke applications and for variations, the habitats assessment charge will apply where one or more of these sites requires an assessment. This is typically where applications are located close to these sites. The Environment Agency’s pre-application advice service can give you free information on whether your activity may have an impact on heritage and nature conservation sites or protected species and habitats.

Where your application is to vary your existing permit, the Environment Agency will not charge you if the nature of your proposed changes have no possibility of any effect on any habitat site.

There is no additional habitats assessment charge for permit applications:

for flood risk activity
for water discharge or groundwater activity carried out by householders or for non-commercial purposes (see section 1.7)
for land spreading of sheep dip (see section 1.9)
for closed-loop heat pumps for domestic or community buildings (see section 1.8)
that meet the low impact installation criteria

For intensive farming installations only, assessing:

an ammonia modelling assessment – a fixed charge of £620
a dust and bio-aerosol management plan – a fixed charge of £620

For other activities (excluding intensive farming installations), assessing:

See the guide Control and monitor emissions for your environmental permit for more information about:

pests management plans
emissions management plans
odour management plans
noise and vibration management plans

For a water discharge activity, assessing specific substances – a fixed charge of £3,774 applies where one or more of these substances requires an assessment. Specific substances are hazardous chemicals and pollutants for water discharge activities. It includes the substances listed in the tables in the guidance Surface water pollution risk assessment for your environmental permit. It also includes other hazardous chemicals or pollutants that are not listed in the tables, but are also assessed by a specific substances assessment, for example, pesticides, biocides or disinfectants.

The specific substances charge does not apply if all specific substances are screened out by the specific substances screening tests. The charge does apply if the outcome of the specific substances screening tests is that modelling is required.

For a groundwater activity, assessing specific substances – a fixed charge of £1,546 applies where one or more of these substances requires an assessment. Specific substances are hazardous substances or non-hazardous pollutants with the exception of discharges that are only likely to contain as their primary pollutants heat, micro-organisms, ammoniacal nitrogen and suspended solids.

The fixed charge for assessing specific substances does not apply to applications for land spreading of sheep dip, or applications for land spreading of pesticides, biocides and disinfectants.

2.8.1 Waste recovery plans (WRPs)

If your application is for the permanent deposit of waste on land as a recovery activity you must provide a WRP. Your WRP demonstrates that you are carrying out a waste recovery activity. You can submit your WRP either at the pre-application stage or as part of your application.

The Environment Agency recommends that you submit the WRP at the pre-application stage so they can assess it before you submit your permit application. If you submit the WRP with a new permit application and the Environment Agency concludes the activity is disposal, they will refuse the application and retain the charge. The Environment Agency will not issue a deposit for recovery permit where they consider the WRP proposal to be a disposal activity.

The Environment Agency will charge £1,231 to assess each new, varied or revised WRP you submit.

If you want to change your WRP after the Environment Agency has assessed the plan and approved your recovery activity, you will need to pay another assessment charge. This is to cover the cost of reassessing your revised plan. You will not be charged for an administrative change.

This could happen if the Environment Agency has assessed your WRP during the pre-application stage, but you then submit an amended WRP with your application. If your changes mean that the Environment Agency has to reassess your WRP, you will need to pay another assessment charge. For example, if you have:

increased the volume of waste
changed the type of waste

2.9 Ship recycling authorisations charge

The Environment Agency charges for time and materials for applications and renewals of authorisations under the Ship Recycling Facilities Regulations 2015. The rate is £100 an hour.

2.10 Charge for changing your application

If you want to change your application before it has been determined, and more public consultation is needed as a result, you must pay an extra charge. For example, changing the proposed operator, or making a significant change to your activities or scale of operations.

There is a fixed charge of £1,930 for this. You must pay this charge before your application is determined. This charge is separate to the advertising charge.

2.11 Partial refund of an application charge

The Environment Agency will check your application to make sure it is complete and they can accept it as ‘duly made’. This means they have enough information to start to determine your permit application.

If information is missing, they may contact you to request it. You will need to submit the missing information before the deadline set. This will be a maximum of 10 working days.

If they cannot accept your application as ‘duly made’, they will return it and refund the application charge minus 20% of the correct application fee to cover their costs to that point.

They will not charge this if they return an application after having done very little work – because it contained obvious errors or omissions.

They can keep up to a maximum of £1,500.

If you withdraw your application once it has been ‘duly made’ but before completion of ‘determination’, the Environment Agency will normally keep your application charge to cover their costs. However, if appropriate, they may consider using an ‘abatement decision’ to refund some of your charge. Section 7.4 explains when they will do this.

2.12 Application charge for multiple activities under one permit

This section does not apply to flood risk activities. See the section 2.12.3 on flood risk activity for charges for these activities.

For installations and waste activities the Environment Agency often receives applications for large, integrated plant. These activities may either:

be directly related to a single main activity or be related to each other
take place on the same site even though they are not related to each other

If you are applying for one permit that covers more than one type of activity, or more than one activity of the same type, you need to calculate the correct application charge using this approach.

Using the tables of charges, you need to calculate the sum of:

100% of the relevant application charge in the tables of charges for the largest application fee
50% of the relevant application charge for any secondary activities that can reasonably be considered to be part of the same operation – to reflect the time saved during the determination period, for example, by only needing one consultation or one set of operator competence checks
10% of the relevant application charge for the same activity carried out multiple times on the same site

There are 2 special cases where the application charge for secondary activities is calculated at 10% of the relevant charge. These are an application for:

a hazardous waste installation treatment activity with associated storage of hazardous waste – the application charge for the associated storage will be 10% of the relevant application charge
any activity that also includes an associated non-hazardous effluent treatment plant that discharges to the sewer – the application charge for the associated effluent treatment plant will be 10% of the relevant application charge

Here are some examples of this approach.

2.12.1 Water discharge activities

A sewerage undertaker operating a waste water treatment works may be carrying out these 3 activities, each requiring a permit. The discharge of:

treated sewage effluent
storm sewage effluent
settled storm sewage effluent

In this case, the application charge will be the sum of:

100% of the largest application charge – the discharge of treated sewage effluent
50% of the application charge for the discharge of storm sewage effluent
10% of the application charge for the discharge of settled storm sewage effluent

2.12.2 Onshore oil and gas (OOG)

OOG sites can often carry out several different activities that each need a permit, for example:

operating a mining waste operation or facility (managing extractive wastes) with or without a flare
carrying out a groundwater activity (for example, re-injecting produced waters)
managing radioactive substances

On an OOG site where the activities needing a permit include a mining waste activity and a groundwater activity, the application charge will be calculated as the sum of:

the main activity application charge (mining waste operation with or without a facility and with or without a flare)
50% of the application charges for other activities – such as the groundwater activity

2.12.3 Flood risk activity example

Charges for more than one flood risk activity are the sum of:

100% of the application charge for the activity with the largest charge
25% of the application charge for each additional flood risk activity

2.12.4 Waste installation example

Charges for a new bespoke permit for the chemical treatment and transfer of hazardous waste for disposal or recovery, and an associated effluent treatment plant treating non-hazardous waste and discharging to the sewer, are the sum of:

100% of the highest application charge of the 2 activities – in this case it is the hazardous waste treatment activity for disposal
10% of the application charge for the second hazardous waste treatment activity for recovery
10% of the application charge for the associated non-hazardous effluent treatment
10% of the application charge for the associated storage of hazardous waste in connection with chemical treatment facility

2.12.5 Waste operation example

Charges for a new bespoke operation made up of a household, commercial and industrial waste transfer station activity, and a vehicle dismantling activity, are the sum of:

100% of the application charge for the activity with the highest charge – in this case it is the household, commercial and industrial waste transfer station activity
50% of the application charge for the metal recycling site – vehicle dismantling activity

2.13 Standalone directly associated activity application charge

At some industrial installations an operator may apply for a permit for a standalone directly associated activity regulated by the Environment Agency.

This could be because the activity is to be controlled separately to the operation of the main installation by the main operator. The operator of the standalone directly associated activity must have their own permit.

This charge applies where the activity is not a part A(1), part A(2) or part B activity. Check if your activity is classed as part A(1), part A(2) or part B.

The charge would be 90% of the most relevant application charge.

The charge for adding a new standalone directly associated activity to an existing installation will normally be either:

the normal variation charge of the installation activity this is associated with
the substantial variation charge where this meets the criteria for substantial variations (see section 3.3)

The charge for varying a standalone directly associated activity permit will be 90% of the most relevant variation charge.

2.14 Local authority activity application charge

Sometimes the Environment Agency regulates activities normally regulated by local authorities. This may be because:

they are within the boundary of, and serving activities on, an A(1) installation already regulated by the Environment Agency
the Environment Agency has been given powers to regulate them

For example, they could be a:

part A(2) activity
small waste incineration plant
part B activity

For these permits you must pay the activity application charge listed in table 1.18 of the tables of charges. These are based on equivalent local authority charges.

2.15 Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) registration charge

You must pay a charge of £1,221 to register a WEEE operation.

2.16 Water discharge and groundwater activities with shared treatment

Sometimes a water discharge or groundwater activity is made up of more than one effluent and they are treated together. For example, a sewage treatment plant treating sewage effluent and trade effluent together. Where this is the case the Environment Agency will charge one application fee based on the effluent with the highest volume. They will regard other changes as administrative which are free of charge. If the volumes of sewage and trade effluent are equal, the variation charge is based on the sewage effluent component.

2.17 Multiple heat pump applications

Ground and surface heating and cooling schemes typically need licences and permits from different regimes. For heat pump applications involving water discharge or groundwater activities and abstraction activities, there is a reduced application fee.

You pay the full application charge for the highest charge, and you get 90% discount for each additional activity that takes water from or discharges it back to the same source and can reasonably be considered to be part of the same operation.

Question 3

3.  Varying a permit charges

Accepted Answer

You may have to pay a variation charge if:

you apply to vary your permit
the Environment Agency decides they must vary your permit

This does not apply if you are only making an administrative change.

Depending on the change to the permit and the permit regime, you can apply for:

an administrative change (no charge)
a minor variation
a normal variation
a substantial variation

Variation costs are listed in the tables of charges.

If you are carrying out multiple activities, your application to vary can include one or more of the different types of variation.

If you are changing from one activity to another, you pay the variation charge for the activity you are changing to. The Environment Agency will assess this new activity to set your permit conditions.

You must read through each variation section to check which variation type your proposed changes fall under. If you submit an application under the incorrect variation type this may lead to your application being returned.

3.1 Variations

Some types of variations have a fixed charge not listed in the tables of charges.

3.1.1 Flood risk activity variation

For flood risk activity permit variations, you need to pay a fixed charge of either:

£68 for a minor variation
£204 for any other variation

3.1.2 Water discharge activity variation

Sewerage companies varying a permit for event duration monitoring (EDM) under the 5-yearly asset management plans for a relevant AMP6 or AMP7 driver pay a fixed charge of £903.

3.1.3 Intensive farming variation after a permit review

There is a fixed charge of £380 for a variation needed as the result of reviewing a farming installation permit. For this to apply the review must follow the process agreed by the Environment Agency. This process is designed to ensure that each variation will take no more than 5 hours.

3.2 Standard rules variations

For a standard rules permit, you can only apply for:

an administrative only variation
a minor variation, for example to change your site boundary

3.2.1 Change standard rules to a bespoke permit

If you want to make a more significant change to your standard rules permit you must apply for a bespoke permit.

Depending on the type of change you want to make, you must apply for either a normal or a substantial variation to change your permit into a bespoke permit. You must apply for a substantial variation when it is likely to involve significant assessment. For example, if there is significant increase to the risk from your operations as a result of the change, it is most likely to be a substantial variation. You can get advice from the Environment Agency’s pre-application service before you apply. You pay the variation charge for the activity you are changing to. The relevant charges are listed in the tables of charges.

3.2.2 Change bespoke permit to standard rules for the same activity

To change an existing bespoke permit to a standard rules permit for the same activity type, you must pay the relevant standard rules permit application charge. These are listed in the tables of charges.

3.2.3 Change standard rules to a different set of standard rules

To change a standard rules permit to a different standard rules permit, you must pay the application charge for the new standard rules. The relevant charges are listed in the tables of charges.

3.2.4 Fixed condition licences

Fixed condition licences now pay the same charges as bespoke permits. These are waste operations which originally had waste management licences granted by the Environment Agency as fixed condition licences.

3.3 Substantial variation

This section does not apply to radioactive substances activities.

A substantial variation is one where the Environment Agency has to carry out significant assessment. The relevant charges are listed in the tables of charges.

If you need to submit a new plan with your variation application, you must pay a charge to have the new plan assessed. See section 2.8 on charges for plans and assessments.

Here are some examples of substantial variations.

3.3.1 Water discharge and groundwater activities

You will need a substantial variation if you want to add an ultraviolet (UV) radiation treatment system, other than to a small sewage discharge.

3.3.2 Installations

You will need a substantial variation if you want to make changes to an activity carried that:

would make that activity a part A(1) activity in its own right – for example by increasing the volume of tonnes per hour (or per day) being processed so it reaches the threshold for a part A(1) activity
increases the treatment or storage capacity on an existing part A(1) by more than the threshold specified in the Schedule 1 activity description
may have significant negative effects on human health or the environment

You would also need a substantial variation if you wanted to:

incinerate or co-incinerate hazardous waste in a plant with a permit to incinerate or co-incinerate non-hazardous waste
apply for a derogation from the emissions standards set by the Industrial Emissions Directive – which would mean the Environment Agency has to vary your permit

If you hold a permit that allows you to biologically treat waste by composting up to the installation threshold of 75 tonnes per day as a waste operation permit, and you apply to increase your annual tonnage or daily treatment capacity, then your application would be classed as a substantial variation. This is because it would become regulated as an installation once the variation was issued.

The Environment Agency will consider potential impacts when they are considering if a variation may have significant negative effects on human health or the environment. A substantial variation will cover the costs of the additional assessment and consultation required by these proposals.

3.3.3 Waste

You will need a substantial variation to your waste permit if you want to make a change that would significantly increase the risk from your operations. For example, if you want to change your waste activity from an inert waste transfer and treatment facility to a household commercial and industrial waste transfer and treatment facility. The new activity would need to replace the existing activity and you would need to be using some of the existing infrastructure and plant.

You would pay the relevant substantial variation charge for the replacement activity.

Where you want to change a waste standard rules permit to a bespoke permit, this will most likely require significant assessment. Therefore, due to the significant increase in the risk from your operations, you will require a substantial variation.

3.3.4 Intensive farming

You will need a substantial variation if you want to:

increase the number of animals or birds you keep where the increase is above the threshold specified in the Schedule 1 activity description (for example, increase of more than 40,000 poultry places, 750 sows or 2,000 production pigs greater than 30kg)
make changes which may have significant negative effects on human health or the environment

3.4 Normal variation

A normal variation is one which will need input by the Environment Agency but is not a minor variation or substantial variation

You can find the normal variation charges for each activity in the tables of charges.

If you need to submit a new chargeable plan (table 1.19 in the tables of charges) with your variation application, you must pay a charge to have the new plan assessed, unless the activity description includes a reference to that plan.

Here are some examples of normal variations.

3.4.1 Water discharge and groundwater activities normal variations

You want to make a change to a permit that requires a new emissions limit assessment as a result. For example, if you want to change:

an outlet location on a numeric permit (a permit which has numeric emission limits)
the volume of the discharge on a numeric permit
the quality (or content) of a discharge on a numeric permit
a descriptive permit to the extent that numeric emission limits are required to be added

You want to reduce the pass forward flow for intermittent storm sewage discharges.

3.4.2 Waste and installations normal variations

You want to:

make a change to a permitted activity (for example an increase in storage capacity) that requires you to resubmit a site-specific plan for assessment – for example a fire prevention, odour or emissions management plan
increase the permitted area of a bespoke permit
add treatment (recovery and disposal) activities not covered by your permit
make a change that would alter the nature of your facility’s operation or increase the environmental risk posed
close an operational landfill so that it can enter the aftercare phase
ask the Environment Agency to review the amount of financial provision (an increase or a decrease both require a technical assessment of a new expenditure plan)
add or replace medium combustion plant to an installations permit – unless this meets the criteria for substantial variations, the charge will be the normal variation charge of the installation activity. For permits with multiple activities, the charge will be the normal variation charge of the highest chargeable activity the plant is connected to (see section 3.7.2)
add an effluent treatment plant to an installations permit or increasing treatment capacity unless this meets the criteria for substantial variations (note the 90% reduction in section 2.12 does not apply for variations)
add a new directly associated activity unless this meets the criteria for substantial variations (see section 2.13)

Find out more about financial provision for landfill.

3.4.3 Intensive farming normal variations

You want to:

increase the number of animals you keep where the increase is below the threshold specified in the Schedule 1 activity description (for example, increasing by no more than 40,000 poultry places, 750 sows or 2,000 production pigs greater than 30kg)
add directly associated activities such as biomass boilers or poultry litter burners which require an air emissions assessment
add new or extend existing housing
add emission points to air, water or land
increase the permitted area

3.5 Minor variation

A minor variation is one that:

needs some assessment by the Environment Agency – but much less than for a normal variation
does not need external consultation

You can find the minor variation charges for each activity type in the tables of charges.

Here are some examples of minor variations.

3.5.1 Water discharge and groundwater activities minor variations

You want to make a change to a permit that does not require a new emission limits assessment as a result. For example, you want to:

change an outlet location on a descriptive permit (a permit which does not have numeric emission limits)
change the volume of the discharge on a descriptive permit
reduce the volume of the discharge to an amount which is based on water meter readings rather than Flows and Loads
reduce the volume of land spreading of sheep dip or land spreading of pesticides, biocides and disinfectants
cross an Urban Wastewater Treatment Regulations (UWWTR) threshold and you are required to change your permit to begin or change your UWWTR monitoring requirements

If the change to a descriptive permit means that numeric emission limits are required to be added to the permit, this would be a normal variation.

3.5.2 Waste and installations minor variations

An example of a minor variation could be proposing to change the amount your facility processes. This could be where you propose to change your annual throughput with no increase in storage capacity required and no increase in environmental risk. This will only be suitable under a minor variation where the change will not reach a relevant threshold to become a substantial variation (see section 3.3.2). This is not appropriate where the change requires you to resubmit a site-specific plan for assessment – for example a fire prevention, odour or emissions management plan (see section 3.4.2).

Another example is where you propose to change the list of wastes your permit allows your facility to accept. This is only appropriate where:

there is no increase in risk to the environment
there is no change in activity
the change does not require you to resubmit a site-specific plan for assessment – for example a fire prevention, odour or emissions management plan

This would typically be suitable where you propose to add a waste code similar to those you are already permitted to accept or to remove waste codes you no longer need. If you want to change waste types across a number of activities on a multi activity permit, see section 3.7.3.

A third example would be proposing to remove a single regulated activity from a permit but not reduce the site area. Where you propose to remove multiple regulated facilities from a permit with no reduction of land the application charge will be one minor variation charge based on the highest chargeable activity being removed.

A fourth example would be proposing to change the type of financial provision for a landfill site, including changing from a 3 year to a 1 year bond or the other way around.

If your proposed changes will alter the nature of your facility’s operation, increase the environmental risk posed or requires you to change and resubmit a site-specific plan for assessment (see section 3.4.2), you will need to apply for a normal or substantial variation.

3.5.3 Intensive farming minor variations

Where you want to make minor changes to your operations or site and a new technical assessment is not needed as a result. For example, if you want to:

change the type of poultry you stock but livestock numbers are decreasing, and an ammonia screening assessment is not needed as ammonia emissions are not increasing (such as stocking turkeys on a broiler farm)
adding a biomass boiler where you meet the criteria for not requiring an air emissions assessment

3.5.5 Radioactive substances activities minor variations

You want to:

reduce any limit or remove any radionuclide in a permit
remove one or more disposal routes from a permit
increase the permitted area of a facility where no other changes are being made
increase by no more than 10% the holding limit for any unsealed source – where the variation is by notice and you are not consolidating permits
increase the number of sealed sources or the maximum radioactivity of any sealed source – where there is no change in the specified location on the premises where sealed sources are kept or used, no change to the security level or need for a security assessment, and no change to the existing financial provision arrangements

3.6 Administrative only variation

The Environment Agency does not charge for administrative only variations because they:

do not need any kind of technical assessment
are likely to take less than 2 hours to process

You must pay a variation charge if any of the following apply:

the Environment Agency needs to carry out a technical assessment
the Environment Agency needs to consult on your variation
you are making administrative changes on a significant number of permits, or several changes to one permit

Here are some examples of administrative only variations.

3.6.1 Administrative only variations for all permits

You want to change or correct:

a name or address but where the legal entity has not changed
a National Grid reference to improve accuracy
typographical errors

3.6.2 Administrative only variations for waste or installations permits

When a change in legislation means that:

you can no longer accept a particular type of waste
you no longer need a permit for a particular type of operation

3.6.3 Administrative only variations for water discharge and groundwater activities

You want to change:

the start date of a permit
an outlet location, as long as a new technical assessment is not needed – a new technical assessment is needed if the new outlet discharges to a stretch of the watercourse where the flow rate or water quality are different, to a different watercourse or different groundwater body, or because a new habitats assessment is needed
a sample point location

3.6.4 Administrative only variations for flood risk activities

You want to:

change operator details
vary a condition, or an aspect, of a standalone flood risk activity and a technical assessment is not needed

3.6.5 Administrative only variations for intensive farming permits

You want to:

reduce animal numbers by any amount
remove an emission point

3.7 Variation for multiple activities on one permit

If you want to vary a permit that covers more than one activity you must pay a variation charge for each activity you want to vary.

If your change affects other activities on the same permit, that means they will also need to be changed. You will need to pay a variation charge for each of the other activities affected.

The charge reductions that apply to multiple activities for new permits do not apply to variations. See section 2.12 which gives more information.

You can combine different types of variations depending on the types of changes you want to make to each activity. For example, combining a minor variation and a normal variation. Your charge will be the sum of the individual variation charges. The Environment Agency will assess each application charge. If the sum of the variation charges is more than the cost of a new multi-activity permit, they will consider whether to use an ‘abatement decision’ to refund some of the charges so that the cost does not exceed that of a new multi-activity permit. Section 7.4 explains when they will do this.

3.7.1 The same activity multiple times on one permit

If you have a permit that covers the same activity multiple times, you pay a variation charge when changing each repeat activity. However, if you want to make the same change, at the same time, to a second or subsequent repeat activities, you do not need to pay another variation charge. This is because the changes to the second or subsequent repeat activities are regarded as administrative changes which are free of charge. Application charge discounts for multiple activities under one permit applies to new multi-activity permits only. It does not apply to variations. See section 2.12 which gives more information.

For example, if you have a permit to produce lime with 5 repeat activities (table of charges reference 1.13.1, section 3.1 – production of cement using waste derived fuels) you only pay a variation charge to change the first activity. Making the same change, at the same time, to the other repeat activities will be free of charge.

3.7.2 Multiple activities and changes to plant or infrastructure

If you have a permit that covers multiple activities and you apply to change any plant or infrastructure (for example replacing the boilers), you pay the highest variation charge of the activities affected. Any changes to the other activities are then regarded as administrative variations and will be free of charge. This applies if it is a minor, normal or substantial variation.

3.7.3 Multiple activities and changes to waste types

If you have a permit that covers multiple activities and you apply to change waste types across a number of different activities (provided there is no increase in risk to the environment or a change in activity by each of the proposed changes), you pay the single highest minor variation charge of the activities being affected. The Environment Agency regards changes to the other activities as administrative variations, so they are free of charge.

3.8 Add an activity to an existing permit

If you want to add an activity to your permit, you must pay the charge for a new permit application for that type of activity.

3.9 Remove an activity and its site area from a permit

This applies to installations, waste and mining waste permits only. If you want to remove an activity from your permit and the portion of your site area associated with it, you must apply to partially surrender that part of the permit.

3.10 Remove authorisations where operations have not started

If you want to remove authorisations for all or parts of a permit, and you have not started any activity on those parts of the site, you must pay the lower of either £770 or the minor variation charge for the activities.

This does not apply to removing an authorisation for a standalone groundwater activity for an onshore oil and gas facility, in which case the low risk surrender charge applies (see section 5.2.2).

3.11 Consolidate permits through variations

3.11.1 Consolidate a single permit

If you have a permit which already has modern conditions, the Environment Agency will normally provide a new, updated permit whenever variations are made. That way you always have one up to date permit.

If you have a permit with old style conditions, you can ask the Environment Agency to consolidate any variations into one permit with modern conditions. Sometimes the Environment Agency may decide this is appropriate to do under a regulator initiated variation. In either case, the charge will be the normal variation charge. Where more than one activity is authorised, the normal variation charge will only apply to the activity with the highest charge. The Environment Agency will regard the other changes as administrative variations which are free of charge.

You can also ask the Environment Agency to consolidate any variations into one modern permit when you apply for a normal or substantial variation. When processing an application for a variation, the Environment Agency may decide to consolidate your permit by making a regulator initiated variation, at the same time.

You do not need to pay for updating or consolidating in these cases. You only pay the relevant variation charge.

3.11.2 Consolidate 2 or more permits into one

If you have several permits for one site, you may want to consolidate (combine) them into one permit. The Environment Agency will only do this if the permits already have modern conditions or if you are happy to move to a permit with modern conditions.

If you are applying to vary one of the permits as a normal or substantial variation and would like your permits to be consolidated at the same time, you need to pay:

the relevant variation charge
minor variation charges for each additional permit being consolidated

If you apply to consolidate multiple permits with no associated variation, then you will need to pay the highest normal variation charge plus a minor variation charge for each of the additional permits being consolidated.

If the work to consolidate is more significant, you need to pay the normal variation charge for each of the additional permits being consolidated. The Environment Agency will tell you if this is the case.

Where each permit being consolidated covers multiple activities, then the appropriate variation for each permit is the single highest chargeable activity in each permit.

Question 4

4.  Transfer a permit

Accepted Answer

If you want to transfer your permit to a different operator you may have to pay a transfer charge. These are listed in the tables of charges. You can transfer either:

all of your permit
part of your permit (partial transfer) – except for mobile plant

You do not need to pay for a full or partial transfer for a:

water discharge activity
groundwater activity
part B installation
flood risk activity

For any of these, a partial transfer needs a variation to that permit, so you must pay the relevant variation charge.

For other types of permits, if you wish to transfer the whole permit, the transfer charge is based on the highest transfer charge for the authorised activities being transferred.

If you have a permit and you wish to partially transfer an activity or activities, you must also pay the normal variation charge for the single highest activity on the permit before transfer. If the operator of the permit holding the newly transferred activities wants to change the permit, they need to apply for a separate variation.

Part transfers cannot be used to transfer land alone between 2 operators. Activities authorised by the permit must be included in the part transfer as well as any accompanying land.

You will need to revise any operational documents to reflect the transfer for both the original and the new permit. This may include updating plans and you will need to pay any relevant assessment charges (see section 2.8).

If you want to move land currently included in your permit to another person or group, with no accompanying permitted activities, you will need apply for a partial surrender. If the new person managing that land wants to carry out permitted activities in future they will need to apply for a new permit.

You can apply for enhanced pre-application advice where you are considering a part transfer (see section 2.3).

4.1 Batch transfers

This section does not apply to radioactive substances activities permits or landfill permits.

A batch transfer is when you transfer a number of your permits to a single operator at the same time.

The total amount to pay in this case will be the:

largest relevant transfer charge
additional relevant transfer charges – reduced by 80% – for the remaining transfers taking place at the same time

4.2 Permit transfers and compliance rating

When you transfer a permit (either part or full), the compliance rating for the permit will also transfer to the new operator.

Question 5

5.  Surrender a permit

Accepted Answer

If you want to surrender some or all of the activities in your permit, you may have to pay a surrender charge. The relevant charges are listed in the tables of charges.

Depending on the change to the permit and the type of permit, you can apply for a:

full or partial surrender
low risk surrender

You do not need to pay for a full or partial surrender for a:

water discharge activity
groundwater activity (unless it is for a standalone groundwater activity for an onshore oil and gas facility)
part B installation
flood risk activity

However, for these activities, if a partial surrender needs a variation to the remaining permit, then you must pay the relevant variation charge in the tables of charges.

The charge to surrender a standalone groundwater activity for an onshore oil and gas facility is £4,310.

If you have a permit that covers more than one activity and you wish to surrender some or all of those activities, you must pay the surrender charge for the single highest activity that has at any time been authorised by the permit. This excludes any activity where the Environment Agency has already accepted surrender.

5.1 Reduce the site area or remove an activity

To reduce the part of the site area covered by a permit, you must pay the single highest activity surrender charge for any activity that has taken place on that area. For installations, if the area of the site was used for a directly associated activity to an installation activity, you should pay the surrender charge for the activity it supports.

If you want to apply to surrender all or part of a permit and you have not started any activity on that part of the site, you must pay the lower of either £770 or the minor variation charge for the activities.

To remove an activity from your permit that does not have an area of the site associated with it, you need to apply for a minor variation and pay the minor variation charge for that activity.

5.2 Low risk surrender charge

5.2.1 Permanent deposit of waste

You can pay the low risk surrender charge for a permit that allows the permanent deposit of waste.

Your local Environment Agency officer must confirm that you can pay the low risk surrender charge before you submit your application. Read the technical guidance about aftercare and permit surrender.

If they agree you can apply for a low risk surrender charge, the charge will be 20% of the permit application charge for that activity.

5.2.2 Other activities

If you want to apply for a low risk surrender for any other activity (excluding radioactive substances activities), the Environment Agency must confirm that an intrusive investigation is not needed. See their technical guidance about site condition reporting.

If they agree you can apply for a low risk surrender, the charge will be 20% of the permit application charge for that activity.

Question 6

6.  Subsistence charges

Accepted Answer

The Environment Agency recovers the costs of regulating an activity through annual subsistence charges. Subsistence is charged for the time a permit is in force, including for all or part of a financial year.

Part 2 of the tables of charges lists the subsistence charges for different activities.

6.1 Issue date for subsistence invoices

In most cases, the Environment Agency will send you an invoice at the beginning of April. The charging year is from 1 April to 31 March.

6.2 Future start date in a permit

Subsistence charges start from the date your permit is issued. If your permit states that your operations will start from a specified date in the future, the subsistence charge is payable from that date.

6.3 Before construction or operations start

If there is a delay between the issue of your permit and beginning work to construct or operate your site, you do not need to start paying the subsistence charge. For radioactive substances activities you do not need to start paying subsistence until the radioactive source needed for the activity is on the permitted site. This is because the Environment Agency has not yet started regulatory scrutiny of the site.

Sometimes the Environment Agency sets pre-operational conditions and will carry out additional assessments at the design stage before an operation starts. They recover the costs for this work under their charge for approvals required by permit conditions. They normally charge for time and materials at £100 an hour.

6.3.1 Waste incinerators and co-incinerators

For waste incinerators and co-incinerators, the Environment Agency will charge

a fixed pre-construction charge of £1,659
full subsistence charges as soon as construction begins

The Environment Agency will also charge a higher charge for the first 2 years of operation after a new plant has been commissioned. See table 2.6 in the tables of charges which lists charges for new (first 2 years) and existing plants.

‘Commissioned’ usually means when:

the operator has taken over the plant from the engineering, procurement and construction contractor
a certificate for acceptance (or equivalent) has been issued

Or, it could be at some other point in the commissioning process, if agreed in writing with the Environment Agency.

6.4 First year of operation charge

This section only applies to the waste treatment sector (activities in table 2.16 of the tables of charges).

When you receive your permit, you must pay a one off extra charge of £672 for the first year of your operations. You must pay this in full.

This charge covers the costs of additional regulatory effort by the Environment Agency to provide advice and support during your first year of operations. They do this to make sure your operation starts off on the correct basis – it’s more cost effective than trying to put things right later.

6.5 Unplanned compliance work charges

Annual subsistence charges pay for planned compliance work at a site with a permit. If the Environment Agency has to carry out unplanned compliance work in connection with the permit, they will, in specific sets of circumstances, charge for the extra time and materials used.

6.5.1 When time and materials costs will be charged

The Environment Agency will charge time and materials costs for dealing with an unplanned event that could cause significant harm to human health or the environment. For example, a confirmed category 1 or 2 pollution incident – as classified under the Environment Agency’s common incident classification scheme.

These charges will apply regardless of a site’s current compliance band.

The Environment Agency will also charge time and materials for work once they have decided to suspend an operator’s permit to make operations stop temporarily. The suspension could be due to either:

the risk of pollution
non-payment of charges

Charging for time and materials allows the Environment Agency to recover costs quickly for the additional regulatory effort resulting from:

dealing with the result of an unplanned event
investigating the cause of an unplanned event
serving and then lifting a suspension and bringing a site back into compliance after a suspension

Time and materials charging also allows the Environment Agency to recover the costs of:

any consultants, contractors or equipment they may need to use
carrying out community engagement work that may be needed as the result of a pollution incident or permit suspension

The Environment Agency time and materials charge is £84 an hour for staff time plus the cost of any materials or equipment used. The exception is for specified radioactive substances activities (see section 2.3).

If the Environment Agency needs to charge you for time and materials, they will keep you informed of any costs incurred and how they are broken down.

Where the Environment Agency can already recover costs for unplanned work they may continue to do so. For example, by applying section 161ZC of the Water Resources Act 1991 for water pollution incidents. The Environment Agency will only ever charge an operator once for any costs they incur.

6.6 Charge for approvals required by permit conditions

If your permit has a condition that states you must send the Environment Agency information for them to assess or approve, you must pay a charge to cover the cost of this work. For example, you may need to send them a plan, report or assessment to approve.

You will be charged for time and materials at a rate of £100 an hour. The exception is for specified radioactive substances activities (see section 2.3).

This charge will cover the amount of time taken to assess your information and decide whether to approve it.

You would need to submit information for approval for these types of permit conditions:

pre-operational
improvement
where you need to submit management plans for approval – such as odour management plans or fire prevention plans

The wording of the conditions in your permit will make it clear when you need to get approval or agreement from the Environment Agency.

This charge will not apply to pre-operational or improvement conditions in new waste incinerator or co-incinerator permits.

6.7 Effect of compliance rating on subsistence

This section applies to installations and waste operations only.

Some subsistence charges are adjusted according to your compliance band. But this does not apply to permits for:

Your compliance band is worked out using the compliance rating score you have accumulated over the previous calendar year.

For example, if you have a good compliance record (band A) and are a waste activity or installation you will only pay 95% of the subsistence charge in the tables of charges.

If your record deteriorates, you will pay more the following year. If you have a poor compliance record you will pay more than somebody in band A, for example.

For the first year of the new charging scheme, the Environment Agency has worked out compliance rating scores using the operational risk appraisal (Opra) scheme.

For more information about compliance rating see:

6.8 Mid-year adjustments to subsistence

This section explains adjustments the Environment Agency will make to subsistence charges if a change takes place partway through a financial year. That is, after the payment due date for the charge has passed.

If you have already paid the subsistence charge in full and a change puts your account into credit, the Environment Agency will refund any money due back to you.

6.8.1 Effect of revocation, surrender and permit variations

The subsistence charge will end, or be adjusted proportionally, if:

the Environment Agency revokes your permit
you surrender or vary your permit

The pro rata adjustment will be calculated from the day the change takes place.

Here are some other examples of when pro rata adjustments would be made. In all of these cases, the Environment Agency would make a pro rata adjustment to the subsistence charge from the date on which the change takes place.

When:

a landfill site closes and enters the aftercare phase following a permit variation, the Environment Agency will adjust the subsistence charge on a pro rata basis to the appropriate closed landfill charge reference
a farming installation becomes, or is no longer, a member of the Pig and Poultry Assurance Scheme, the Environment Agency will adjust the subsistence charge on a pro rata basis
you no longer qualify for an operator self-monitoring (OSM) discount for your water discharge, the Environment Agency will adjust your subsistence charge on a pro rata basis
an activity becomes exempt from needing a permit, the Environment Agency will adjust the subsistence charge on a pro rata basis – the charge will end on the day the exemption takes effect

In some cases, you must register an exemption to be exempt.

6.8.2 Stopping activity for more than 12 months

If you are going to stop operating temporarily, and this is likely to be for more than 12 months (mothballing), the Environment Agency will reduce the subsistence charge by 50%.

This is a temporary measure intended to last for no more than 2 years provided the Environment Agency considers the site to be in ‘temporary cessation’.

You must notify the Environment Agency if you are going to stop activities temporarily for a period of more than 12 months.

The Environment Agency will only reduce the charge if they agree that you meet the criteria for temporary cessation.

For radioactive substances activities, for operations to stop you must have removed from site all:

radioactive materials
radioactive waste

Where operations have stopped for more than 12 months, the Environment Agency needs to review activities before they can restart. This is to make sure the site meets the same standards as other competitor operators. For example, to check the site meets the requirements of Best Available Techniques reference guidance.

The Environment Agency may add an improvement condition to your permit stating that you cannot restart activities until you have submitted the information they need to carry out this review.

You will need to pay a minor variation charge if this improvement condition is added to your permit. The Environment Agency will also charge time and materials for any approvals they need to provide under this permit condition.

6.9 Subsistence for multiple activities under one permit

If you have a permit that covers more than one type of activity your subsistence charge will usually be the sum of the subsistence charge for each of the activities.

There are a number of exceptions, as follows.

6.9.1 The main activity charge already includes additional activities

The subsistence charge tables list the subsistence charges for all activities. The descriptions of each activity aim to set out all the activities that are included within that description. If an activity is not included under a description, then it is likely that an additional charge will apply to it.

For example:

combustion plants and effluent treatment plants at refineries are considered part of the oil refining activity and so are included in that refinery activity description
processes and ancillary activities in chemical plants can be unique – a large pharmaceutical manufacturing facility may pay a charge for that activity (table 2.4.5), plus one for additional on-site combustion plant (table 2.10.4), and one for any commercially operated on-site waste treatment activity (table 2.16.1)

6.9.2 Waste treatment

If any of your activities are listed in table 2.16 in the tables of charges, you must pay the sum of both the:

highest applicable installation charge in table 2.16
highest other waste operation charge in table 2.16

6.9.3 Water discharge activities and groundwater activities

Some charging rules have been carried forward from the previous water discharge charging scheme. In particular, where:

effluents are joined together for treatment or monitoring before discharge, you pay one charge that reflects the total volume of the effluents
discharges are infrequent, or seasonally restricted, then discounts may apply

6.10 Standalone directly associated activities on multi-operator installations

At some industrial installations an operator may apply for a permit for a standalone directly associated activity regulated by the Environment Agency.

This could be because the activity is to be controlled separately to the operation of the main installation by the main operator. The operator of the standalone directly associated activity must have their own permit.

This charge applies where the activity is not a part A(1), part A(2) or part B activity.

The operator of the standalone directly associated activity will pay a fixed rate annual subsistence charge of £3,926.

6.11 Subsistence for local authority installations

Sometimes the Environment Agency regulates activities normally regulated by local authorities. This may be because:

they are within the boundary of, and serving activities on, an A(1) installation already regulated by the Environment Agency
the Environment Agency has been given powers to regulate them

For example, they could be a:

part A(2) bespoke installation
small waste incineration plant
part B bespoke installation

In these instances the operator will pay the local authority activity annual subsistence charge in table 2.18 in the tables of charges. This charge will only apply if the activity is not already included in the activity description of the main installation.

6.12 Additional components for some sectors

For 2 very diverse process industry sectors – food and drink, and pulp and paper – the activity descriptions may include a number of additional components. To find the correct subsistence charge, first select the number of additional components on your site from the table in part 4 of the tables of charges. Then look up the correct charge in table 2.7 or table 2.9.

6.13 Flood risk activities subsistence charges

You need to pay a subsistence charge for all flood risk activity permits. See the tables of charges.

The subsistence charge applies for each year there is a compliance check. Normally there will be one compliance check.

The Environment Agency may sometimes need to carry out several compliance checks, for example, where permit conditions apply over a period of time.

If this is the case, the Environment Agency will only charge you once in each financial year for compliance checks. They will invoice you for this charge when they carry out the first compliance check.

6.14 Mobile plant permit subsistence and deployment charges

This section does not apply to mobile radioactive equipment.

Mobile plant permits are different to site based permits:

they have a simpler permit application process
surrender is by notification

Before you use the plant, you must submit a deployment form for approval by the Environment Agency.

6.14.1 Annual subsistence charge for mobile plant

There is an annual subsistence charge of £530 for some mobile plant permits that allow the spreading of waste on land. These are in table 2.15 in the tables of charges.

This charge covers the costs of reviewing permits and monitoring compliance. Reviews will make sure you have systems in place to prevent incidents and manage your operations well.

6.14.2 Deployment charges for mobile plant

Each time you submit a deployment application form you must pay a charge. See the tables of charges for these costs.

You must pay this charge at the same time as you submit the deployment form for assessment.

6.14.3 Annual subsistence and deployment charges for bespoke groundwater mobile plant

These are charged on a time and material basis.

6.15 Materials facilities charge

This charge relates to notified materials facilities that either bulk or sort more than 1,000 tonnes of waste material over a 12-month period.

Sites bulking waste material from only one supplier and not carrying out any sorting activities are not required to become notified materials facilities.

The waste material must come from households or be similar in nature to household waste, have been collected for recycling or preparing for reuse, and consist of one or more of the following materials:

glass
metal
paper
card
plastic
fibre-based composite material

Notified materials facilities must sample, record and report the amounts you have processed to the Environment Agency on a quarterly basis. The Environment Agency will will assess your compliance, carry out inspections and, if necessary, take enforcement action.

The charge covers additional regulatory costs specific to the regulations and is in addition to the annual subsistence charge for the permit.

The charge will be raised annually in advance on a financial year basis.

The charge is £4,154.

You may withdraw notifications at any time if you consider that your facility is no longer likely to qualify for the regulation and charge. Where a notification is withdrawn, charges will terminate from the start of the reporting period immediately following the date of receipt of the withdrawal notice and a prorated refund will be issued.

No refunds will be made for notified periods.

Question 7

7.  How to pay for charges

Accepted Answer

7.1 Payments for applications

When you send an application to the Environment Agency, you need to pay the application charge when you apply. For example this could be an application:

for a new permit, licence or registration
to vary or surrender an existing permit

Send the application paperwork to:

Permitting Service Centre
Environment Agency
Quadrant 2
99 Parkway Avenue
Sheffield S9 4WG

Telephone: 03708 506 506 (see call charges)

You can pay application charges by:

cheque
credit or debit card (not American Express)
electronic transfer (for example BACS or CHAPS)

If you wish to pay by credit or debit card, let the Environment Agency know and they will contact you when they receive your application.

Include an Environment Agency reference number or permit number with your payment, particularly if you are making an electronic payment. This will make sure your payment can be identified and matched to your application.

7.2 Other payments

This applies to payments for:

subsistence charges
time and materials charges
additional fixed application or subsistence charges

For these types of charges, the Environment Agency will send an invoice to the person and contact address you provided.

You can pay by:

credit or debit card (not American Express)
electronic transfer (for example BACS or CHAPS)
bank giro credit
direct debit – for subsistence charges

Full details on how to make your payment can be found on the back of your invoice.

Include an Environment Agency reference number or permit number with your payment, particularly if you are making an electronic payment. This will make sure your payment can be identified and matched to your invoice.

7.3 If you do not pay a charge

If an application is received without the correct payment, it cannot be classified as ‘duly made’ and so cannot be processed (determined).

If you have not paid the full application charge, the Environment Agency will ask you to pay the balance. They cannot determine the application and will not issue a new or revised permit if any part of an application charge is missing.

If you do not pay the subsistence charge when it is due, the Environment Agency may revoke or suspend your permit and take action to recover the debt.

If the Environment Agency has varied your permit and you do not pay the variation charge, they will take action to recover the debt.

If you have not paid the charges for a discretionary service requested by you, the Environment Agency may refuse to provide any more discretionary services until payment is received.

7.4 Reducing a charge

The Environment Agency can make an ‘abatement decision’ to waive or reduce any charge listed in The Environment Agency (Environmental Permitting and Abstraction Licensing) (England) Charging Scheme 2022 (part 1 paragraph 5). They may do this in cases where they think that the charge is significantly disproportionate when compared to the costs they have incurred or will incur. You can ask them to consider if this is appropriate at any stage. For permit applications, you can ask this when you submit your application or after they make their decision to grant or refuse your application.

7.5 Complaints about charges

If you wish to complain about your charges, or ask the Environment Agency to review a decision they have made about your charges, please see their complaints procedure.

7.6 When charges are due

You must provide payment with your application when you apply for:

new permits
variations
transfers
surrenders

Invoices for a permit variation made by the Environment Agency must be paid when the invoice is issued. Fixed and time and materials charges for work to determine an application must be paid when the invoice is issued.

Other time and materials charges are normally invoiced in arrears.

Invoices for subsistence charges are issued annually on 1 April and must be paid when you receive the invoice. Or, in the first year the permit is granted, you will receive a pro rata invoice when your permit is issued. You must pay this when you receive the invoice.

You must pay the deployment application charge when you send in the notification for each deployment.

7.7 Contact us

For billing queries, please contact the address on the back of your invoice.

If you have any queries about working out how to calculate your charges, please contact the Charges Team.

Email: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Post:

Charges Team
Environment and Business Directorate
Environment Agency
Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH

Telephone: 03708 506 506 (see call charges)

The Environment Agency welcomes views from their users, stakeholders and the public, including comments about the content and presentation of this scheme.

If you are happy with their service, please tell them. It helps them to identify good practice and rewards their staff.

If you are unhappy with their service, please let them know how they can improve it.

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1. General information about charges

1.1 Application charges

1.2 Annual subsistence charge

1.3 Types of charges

1.4 Additional application and subsistence charges

1.5 Time and materials charges

1.5.1 Time and materials for specified radioactive substances activities

1.6 Who must pay a charge

1.7 Payments by householders, charities and public bodies

1.8 Charges for closed loop ground source heat pumps for domestic households or community buildings

1.9 Charges for land spreading of sheep dip

1.10 Charges for future standard rules

1.11 Inflationary increase to water discharge and groundwater activity charges

2. Permit application charges

2.1 New permit charge

2.2 Basic pre-application advice

2.3 Enhanced pre-application advice

2.4 Staged application procedure charge

2.5 High public interest applications charge

2.6 Advertising charge

2.7 Repeated information notices charge

2.8 Charges for plans and assessments

2.8.1 Waste recovery plans (WRPs)

2.9 Ship recycling authorisations charge

2.10 Charge for changing your application

2.11 Partial refund of an application charge

2.12 Application charge for multiple activities under one permit

2.12.1 Water discharge activities

2.12.2 Onshore oil and gas (OOG)

2.12.3 Flood risk activity example

2.12.4 Waste installation example

2.12.5 Waste operation example

2.13 Standalone directly associated activity application charge

2.14 Local authority activity application charge

2.15 Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) registration charge

2.16 Water discharge and groundwater activities with shared treatment

2.17 Multiple heat pump applications

3. Varying a permit charges

3.1 Variations

3.1.1 Flood risk activity variation

3.1.2 Water discharge activity variation

3.1.3 Intensive farming variation after a permit review

3.2 Standard rules variations

3.2.1 Change standard rules to a bespoke permit

3.2.2 Change bespoke permit to standard rules for the same activity

3.2.3 Change standard rules to a different set of standard rules

3.2.4 Fixed condition licences

3.3 Substantial variation

3.3.1 Water discharge and groundwater activities

3.3.2 Installations

3.3.3 Waste

3.3.4 Intensive farming

3.4 Normal variation

3.4.1 Water discharge and groundwater activities normal variations

3.4.2 Waste and installations normal variations

3.4.3 Intensive farming normal variations

3.5 Minor variation

3.5.1 Water discharge and groundwater activities minor variations

3.5.2 Waste and installations minor variations

3.5.3 Intensive farming minor variations

3.5.5 Radioactive substances activities minor variations

3.6 Administrative only variation

3.6.1 Administrative only variations for all permits

3.6.2 Administrative only variations for waste or installations permits

3.6.3 Administrative only variations for water discharge and groundwater activities

3.6.4 Administrative only variations for flood risk activities

3.6.5 Administrative only variations for intensive farming permits

3.7 Variation for multiple activities on one permit

3.7.1 The same activity multiple times on one permit

3.7.2 Multiple activities and changes to plant or infrastructure

3.7.3 Multiple activities and changes to waste types

3.8 Add an activity to an existing permit

3.9 Remove an activity and its site area from a permit

3.10 Remove authorisations where operations have not started

3.11 Consolidate permits through variations

3.11.1 Consolidate a single permit

3.11.2 Consolidate 2 or more permits into one

4. Transfer a permit

4.1 Batch transfers