Consultation on modernising environmental permitting for industry

Medium combustion plant (MCP), which range in size from large gas power plant down to commercial scale boilers used at schools or offices, were brought into permitting to implement the EU’s 2018 Medium Combustion Plant Directive (“the MCP Directive”). The MCP Directive included a staged approach to implementation for MCP that were in operation before the MCP Directive came into force, with larger MCP (those with a rated thermal input greater than 5 megawatts) brought into regulation in 2025 and smaller MCP (those with a rated thermal input between 1 and 5 megawatts) in 2030.  

The EA has used available tools to simplify the permitting of MCP, for example, through the use of standard rules permits. However, the 2030 implementation date will involve bringing roughly a further 15,000 MCP into regulation according to the MCP Directive impact assessment, many of which will be organisations such as offices or schools that have never interacted with the permitting system before, or smaller businesses for which permitting costs would be a substantial burden.  

We are therefore exploring a simpler, registration-based approach (outlined in the previous section) for smaller MCP. We believe this could be more proportionate given the inherently lower risks posed by smaller combustion plant, and the fact that new MCP of this size are often off-the-shelf units where components and operation are more standardised and set by the manufacturer, and which evidence suggests are generally compliant with MCP limits.  

Further policy development is required on the design of a registration-based approach prior to more detailed consultation, however, in short, a registration-based approach would require operators of MCP to register their unit with the EA and commit to meet the emission limits set out in legislation. The EA would then carry out inspections and enforcement as necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements. A system would be needed for processing registrations which would incur a cost – but a smaller cost than a permit. 

This approach could significantly cut down waiting times as standard rules permits currently take an average of 70 days to be issued, whereas registrations would require only minimal processing which could cut months off this process. 

While we believe a registration-based approach could be more proportionate on the whole, it will likely not be appropriate for MCP in Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs), where a more active regulatory approach may be required, for example, in setting tighter ELVs than those set out in legislation to protect air quality. 

A registration-based approach would be in line with the original requirements from the MCP Directive, which gave EU member states flexibility on whether to implement the MCP Directive through permits or registrations, so this would not represent a regression under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.