The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/675) (“the principal Regulations”) to remove the registration requirements for certain exempt facilities in England.

These Regulations make provision—

(a) to remove the requirement to register small discharges of sewage effluent (which are discharges from a sewage treatment plant into surface water and discharges from a septic tank or sewage treatment plant into groundwater), in order to be exempt from the requirement for an environmental permit;

(b) for exemption authorities to replace exemption registration authorities in carrying out certain functions in relation to small discharges of sewage effluent;

(c) for revisions to the conditions that must be satisfied in order for small discharges of sewage effluent to be exempt from the need for a permit, including removing the requirements to keep records of maintenance and to notify the exemption registration authority if an exempt facility ceases to be in operation;

(d) to clarify the position relating to the relevant person who is responsible for satisfying the conditions referred to in (c);

(e) to clarify which provisions of the principal Regulations apply to England and which apply to Wales.

A partial impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs to business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Better Regulations Programme, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, London SW1P 3RJ and at www.gov.uk/defra. It is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is alongside this instrument at www.legislation.co.uk.