Guidance

A1 installations: environmental permits

How to apply for standard rules and bespoke permits for A1 installations, including low impact installations.

Applies to England

You must apply to the Environment Agency if you operate a facility which is classed as an ‘A1 installation’. Check the guidance on the regulations to find out if it is.

A1 installations are facilities which carry out industrial processes, like:

  • refineries
  • manufacturing sites
  • factories
  • process industries

It also includes certain waste activities, like:

  • disposing of waste to landfill
  • hazardous waste treatment
  • waste incineration

There’s separate guidance on environmental permits for intensive pig and poultry farms.

Check if your installation needs to meet Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD) or specified generator requirements.

If your installation is classed as ‘A2’ or ‘B’, apply to your local authority.

See the guidance for Part B sections 1.1 (combustion) and 5.1 (incineration of wood) activities. The Environment Agency will regulate these activities where MCPD or specified generator regulations apply.

There are 2 types of permit:

  • standard rules – a set of fixed rules for common activities
  • bespoke – tailored to your business activities

You are breaking the law if you operate without an environmental permit if you should have one.

Fees and charges for permits

You must pay a fee to apply for a permit.

The application charges are listed in tables 1.4 to 1.14 of the environmental permits and abstraction licences: tables of charges.

You must send payment with your application.

If your application is successful, the Environment Agency will charge you an annual ‘subsistence’ fee while you have a permit. This fee depends on your activity and the type of permit you have.

You can contact the Environment Agency if you need help working out how much to pay.

Check if you need a standard rules permit

You can apply for a standard rules permit if your activity meets the relevant description and rules, but:

  • you cannot change (vary) the rules and you have no right of appeal against them
  • if you want to change your operations and so will not meet the criteria of the standard permit any more, you will have to apply to make it a bespoke permit instead
  • if there is a change in your local environment after your permit has been issued (such as a change in the definition of a groundwater source protection zone) you may need to apply to change (vary) your permit to another standard rules permit or a bespoke permit

Applying for a standard rules permit is quicker and costs less than a bespoke permit.

If you do not meet the conditions for a standard rules permit you must apply for a bespoke permit.

Standard rules permits: low impact installations

You can apply for a standard rules permit as a low impact installation if you carry out any A1 activity, except for activities related to:

  • incineration and co-incineration of waste
  • disposal of waste by landfill
  • disposal of waste other than by incineration or landfill
  • recovery of waste

Read the standard rules for:

Qualifying as a low impact installation

To qualify, your installation must have a low environmental impact because of its design, including during start-up, shutdown, or abnormal operating conditions.

Low impact installations must not:

  • release more than 50 cubic metres per day of waste water
  • have to use equipment to reduce or remove emissions before they’re released into the outside environment
  • discharge emissions to groundwater
  • produce more than 1 tonne of waste or 10kg of hazardous waste per day, averaged over a year, with not more than 20 tonnes of waste or 200kg of hazardous waste being produced in any one day
  • consume energy at a rate greater than 3 megawatts (MW) or, if the installation uses a combined heat and power installation to supply any internal process heat, 10MW (through both imported electricity and by burning fuel on site)

Low impact installations must have:

  • containment measures to prevent emissions escaping to surface water, sewer or land, which are maintained at all times
  • only a low risk of causing offence due to noise and odour – you cannot be a low impact installation if noise and odour are noticeable outside the boundary of your site

Standard rules permits: composting, anaerobic digestion, or treatment of incinerator bottom ash

You can apply for a standard rules permit if you carry out any of the following activities:

Apply for a standard rules permit

Before you apply for a standard rules permit you need to:

  • read the conditions for the relevant standard rules to make sure you can comply with them
  • read the instructions in the application form and form guidance
  • contact the pre-application advice service to request a heritage and nature conservation screening – so the Environment Agency can check if any conservation sites, protected species or habitats could be affected by your activity
  • read the generic risk assessment for your activity so you understand the potential risks and make sure you manage them effectively (you can find this with the relevant standard rules document)
  • check you meet the legal operator and competence requirements
  • check how to control and monitor your emissions – you do not need to submit any emissions information as part of a standard rules permit application

You also need to develop a management system (a set of procedures that identifies and minimises the risks of pollution).

Standard rules permits: application forms

Download and fill in these forms:

Send your completed forms and payment by email to PSC@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Or post them to:

Permitting and Support Centre
Environmental Permitting Team
Quadrant 2
99 Parkway Avenue
Parkway Business Park
Sheffield
S9 4WF

Apply for a bespoke permit

You must apply for a bespoke permit if your activity does not fit the conditions of a standard rules permit. You can apply for a bespoke permit as a low impact installation if you carry out an A1 activity and meet the criteria for a low impact installation.

Before you apply you must do all of the following:

You can ask the Environment Agency if you can submit application information in stages if your proposal is either or both:

  • complex
  • a novel technology

Check if your application is suitable and how to request a staged application – see the guidance on how to send environmental permit application information in stages.

Bespoke permits: application forms

Download and fill in these forms:

Send all the following with your application forms:

  • the summary of your management system
  • your risk assessment
  • any other supporting documents mentioned in the form guidance, such as site maps and plans
  • your payment

Send your application and payment to PSC@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Or post them to:

Permitting and Support Centre
Environmental Permitting Team
Quadrant 2
99 Parkway Avenue
Parkway Business Park
Sheffield
S9 4WF

Consultations on permit applications

The Environment Agency consults on:

  • bespoke permit applications
  • other permit applications where it’s appropriate or in the public interest to do so

The Environment Agency will publish a notice of your application, instructions for how other people can comment on it and the application documents on the public register.

Members of the public and anyone interested in the application have 20 working days to comment.

The Environment Agency may also consult other public bodies, for example local authorities, UK Health
Security Agency, water companies and Natural England.

If the Environment Agency considers your application to be of high public interest, they may:

  • take longer to give you a decision
  • carry out an extra consultation on the draft decision
  • advertise the application more widely

Keeping sensitive information confidential

When the Environment Agency consults on your permit application they will let people see the information in your application.

You can ask the Environment Agency not to make public any information that’s commercially sensitive for your business (such as financial information). You can do this by including a letter with your application that gives your reasons why you do not want this information made public.

The Environment Agency will email or write to you within 20 days if they agree to your request. They will let you know if they need more time to decide.

If they do not agree to your request they will tell you how to:

  • appeal against their decision
  • withdraw your application

After you apply

The Environment Agency may send back your application if, for example, you have:

  • not used the right forms
  • forgotten to include payment, or sent the wrong payment
  • not provided important information

Examples of insufficient information include:

  • the environmental risk assessment not identifying potential pollutants
  • the best available technique (BAT) assessment not justifying how BAT has been applied

The information required is explained in the application form guidance. It depends on the type of application you are making.

Once the Environment Agency is satisfied they have the information and payment required to start assessing your application, they will contact you to tell you that your application is ‘duly made’. This means they are starting the assessment process.

If the Environment Agency needs any more information from you at the assessment stage, they will contact you to tell you what information you need to send.

If the Environment Agency cannot progress your application any further, they will return it to you. They may keep part of your application charge where they have spent time reviewing your application and requesting information. This is explained in the environmental permitting charges guidance.

Decisions about your permit

The Environment Agency will write to you to tell you their decision. The time this takes depends on:

  • the complexity of the application
  • whether they need to consult
  • whether they need to ask you for more information so they can complete their assessment
  • the number of applications they are dealing with

They usually make decisions on applications within:

  • 4 months if you are applying for a new permit
  • 3 months if you want to change a permit or cancel it
  • 2 months if you want to transfer a permit

They will tell you if your application will take longer.

The Environment Agency will publish the decision on the public register.

Appeal a decision

You can appeal if the Environment Agency refuses your application.

Examples of why they may refuse an application are:

  • unacceptable environmental risk or damage to habitats or species
  • insufficient evidence of operator competence
  • inadequate management plans
  • insufficient evidence of appropriate alternatives where BAT is not being proposed
  • requests for information not being responded to

You can also appeal if you applied for a bespoke permit and you’re not happy with the conditions.

The decision letter will explain how you can appeal.

When you get a permit

Find out how the Environment Agency will regulate you when you start operating.

Change, transfer or cancel your permit

When you have got a permit you can:

  • change (vary) the details on it
  • transfer it to someone else
  • cancel (surrender) it

Find out how to change, transfer or cancel your permit.

You may not have to make changes to your permit if you want to carry out research or trials.

Get help with your application

If you are sure you need a permit you can ask the Environment Agency for advice before you apply.

Published 1 February 2016
Last updated 21 February 2024 + show all updates
  1. Section 'Apply for a bespoke permit' added guidance about submitting application information in stages if your proposal is complex and or a novel technology.

  2. Under 'Qualifying as a low impact installation' changed 'produce more than 1 tonne of waste or 10kg of hazardous waste per day, averaged over a year, with not more than 20 tonnes of waste or 200kg of hazardous waste being released in any one day' to 'produce more than 1 tonne of waste or 10kg of hazardous waste per day, averaged over a year, with not more than 20 tonnes of waste or 200kg of hazardous waste being produced in any one day'.

  3. Updated the first section to link to a new introductory guide about intensive farming permits.

  4. Added that, once you have a permit, you may not need to change (vary) the permit to carry out research or trials. Linked to guidance on this.

  5. Updated the 'After you apply' section to clarify what the Environment Agency needs to complete an assessment. Added examples of the kinds of information that may be missing from an application, plus examples of why the Environment Agency may refuse an application. Added where you can find the application fees listed in the tables of charges. Updated the 'How to get help' section to link to the pre-application advice service.

  6. Updated the links to new biowaste standard rules permits for installations.

  7. Updated the 'Get help with your application' to link to the new guidance on the pre-application advice service. Removed two sentences about not getting post, as we are now receiving it.

  8. Explained how we are managing postal applications during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

  9. Added information about and links to medium combustion plant and specified generator requirements.

  10. Changed link to the Groundwater Source Protection Zones to new page

  11. Added information about the pre-application advice service you can use if you need help with your permit application.

  12. First published.