The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016

[F1 PART 1 E+W General

Textual Amendments

F1 Schs. 25A, 25B inserted (30.1.2018) by The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/110), regs. 1, 16

Application E+W

1.   This Schedule applies—

(a) in relation to every new medium combustion plant from 20th December 2018,

(b) in relation to every existing medium combustion plant from the date specified in regulation 12(1A)(b) or (c), as appropriate.

Interpretation E+W

2.— (1) In this Schedule—

“existing medium combustion plant” means a medium combustion plant—

(a)

put into operation before 20th December 2018, or

(b)

for which an environmental permit was granted before 19th December 2017, provided that the plant is put into operation no later than 20th December 2018;

“the MCPD” means the Medium Combustion Plant Directive;

“medium combustion plant” means a combustion plant with a rated thermal input equal to or greater than 1 megawatt but less than 50 megawatts, and any combination of combustion plants referred to in article 2(2) or article 4 of the MCPD, provided that—

(a)

it does not fall within Article 2(3) or (4) of the MCPD,

(b)

it is not installed on an offshore platform situated on, above or below those parts of the sea adjacent to England and Wales from the low water mark to the seaward baseline of the United Kingdom territorial sea,

(c)

it is not installed on a gas storage or unloading platform as defined in regulation 2 of the Offshore Combustion Installations (Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2013;

“new medium combustion plant” means a medium combustion plant which is not an existing medium combustion plant.

(2) In sub-paragraph (1), “offshore platform” means any fixed or floating structure which—

(a) is used for the purposes of or in connection with the production of petroleum, and

(b) in the case of a floating structure, is maintained on a station during the course of production,

but does not include any structure where the principal purpose of the use of the structure is the establishment of the existence of petroleum or the appraisal of its characteristics, quality or quantity or the extent of any reservoir in which it occurs.

(3) In sub-paragraph (2), “petroleum” includes any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas existing in its natural condition in strata but does not include coal or bituminous shales or other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distillation.

(4) When interpreting the MCPD for the purposes of this Schedule—

(a) an expression that is defined in Part 1 of these Regulations has the meaning given in that Part;

(b) “permit” means environmental permit;

(c) the competent authority is the regulator;

(d) “general binding rule” means a standard rule published under regulation 26.

Applications for the grant of an environmental permit E+W

3.— (1) The regulator must ensure that every application for the grant of an environmental permit—

(a) includes the information specified in Annex I to the MCPD;

(b) specifies which (if any) of paragraphs 7 to 11 of this Schedule is considered relevant to the application.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraph (3), the regulator must start the procedure for determining an application for the grant of an environmental permit within one month of the operator providing the information referred to in paragraph (1) and must inform the operator of the start of the procedure.

(3) Sub-paragraph (2) applies only when the operator has submitted a duly made application.

Exercise of relevant function E+W

4.— (1) The regulator must exercise its relevant functions so as to ensure compliance with the following provisions of the MCPD—

(a) Article 4;

(b) Article 5(1) and (2);

(c) Article 5(6);

(d) Article 6(1);

(e) Article 6(2);

(f) Article 6(7);

(g) Article 6(13);

(h) Article 7 (except Article 7(8));

(i) Article 8(2) and (3);

(j) Article 9.

(2) In exercising its relevant functions, the regulator must ensure that there is no persistent emission of dark smoke, where “dark smoke” has the meaning given in section 3(1) of the Clean Air Act 1993.

(3) In exercising its relevant functions so as to ensure compliance with Article 6(1), (2), (7) or (13) of the MCPD, the regulator must ensure that environmental permits include emission limit values set in accordance with the provisions of Part 2 of this Schedule.]