Consultation on modernising environmental permitting for industry

Why are we consulting? 

This is a consultation on reforms to the environmental permitting framework for industrial emissions. The consultation sets out a wide variety of regulatory reforms and feedback will be used to shape detailed proposals which will be subject to further consultation. 

Scope 

This public consultation is for England only, however, please note that the devolved governments have been engaged during the preparation of the consultation and we intend to continue working closely with them in further developing the policy options outlined in this document. We will do so in line with the approach agreed through the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control: The Developing and Setting of Best Available Techniques (BAT) Common Framework, developing UK-wide approaches to industrial emissions policy where possible. More detail is provided in the introduction and against specific policy proposals. 

Responses to this consultation from parts of the UK outside England will be shared with the relevant devolved government department for information. 

This consultation covers the permitting of ‘industrial’ activities under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPRs), which are taken to include installations, medium combustion plant and specified generators, small waste incineration plant, solvent emission activities, Part B mobile plant and mobile medium combustion plant. The consultation does not directly cover waste operations, mining waste operations, radioactive substances activities, water discharge activities, groundwater activities or flood risk activities - however cross-reference to permitting of other activities will be made where relevant. 

Audience 

This consultation is open to the public. It is important for us to hear from those who will be directly impacted by the proposals. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the public, industry operators, representatives and trade associations who will be affected by the proposals, as well as environmental and health groups.   

Responding to the consultation 

This consultation runs for 8 weeks. It opens on xx 2025 and closes on xx 2025. 

We encourage responses via this online survey on Citizen Space, an online consultation tool. Consultations receive a high level of interest across many sectors and using the online tool assists our analysis of responses, enabling more efficient and effective consideration of issues. 

However, you may also download the form and send your responses by email or post using the contact details below. If you send your responses by email or post, please include the following information: 

• your name 

• your email address 

• your organisation (if applicable) 

• whether you would like your response to be confidential (if yes, please state your reasons)  

Enquiries and responses should be directed:  

• by email to Control.Pollution@defra.gov.uk including whether you need a hard copy of the consultation  

• in writing to Industrial Emissions Team, Defra, Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF 

Please note, any responses sent by post must have arrived at the above address by the closing date of the consultation (XXX) to be counted. Any responses received after this date will not be analysed. To ensure your response is included in the analysis, please consider responding online via Citizen Space.  

At the end of the consultation  

When this consultation ends, we will keep copies of responses securely. Members of the public may ask for a copy of responses under freedom of information legislation. If you do not want your response - including your name, contact details and any other personal information – to be publicly available, please indicate this when completing the online survey on Citizens Space or say so clearly in writing when you send your response to the consultation. Please note, if your computer automatically includes a confidentiality disclaimer, that won’t count as a confidentiality request. Please explain why you need to keep details confidential. We will take your reasons into account if someone asks for this information under freedom of information legislation. But, because of the law, we cannot promise that we will always be able to keep those details confidential. We will summarise all responses and place this summary on our website at www.gov.uk/defra. This summary will include a list of names of organisations that responded but not people’s personal names, addresses or other contact details. Please give us 24 hours’ notice if you wish to see consultation responses and summaries. There is a charge for photocopying and postage.  

If you have any comments or complaints about the consultation process, please address them to: consultation.coordinator@defra.gov.uk.