6/15/2021 Local authority environmental permits (England and Wales) - GOV.

UK

GOV.UK
1. Home (https://www.gov.uk/)
2. Business and industry (https://www.gov.uk/business-and-industry)
3. Business and the environment (https://www.gov.uk/business-and-industry/business-and-the-
environment)

Licence

Local authority environmental permits (England

and Wales)
Apply for this licence

Enter a postcode
For example SW1A 2AA

Find

Find a postcode on Royal Mail's postcode finder (https://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode)

Overview
You must hold an environmental permit from your local authority if you either:

carry out Part A(2) or Part B activities

run a Part A(2) or Part B installation or mobile plant

You need a Part A(2) permit for the following activities:

refining gas
metal works, eg producing pig iron or steel, casting ferrous metal, operating forge hammers or
applying fused metal coatings
melting non-ferrous metals
surface treating metals and plastic materials
grinding cement clinker or metallurgical slag
glass manufacturing
cellulose fibre reinforced calcium silicate board manufacturing
ceramic product manufacturing, including roof tiles and bricks
non-hazardous or animal waste incineration
manufacturing wood based boards, eg plywood
new tyre manufacturing
disposing of or recycling animal carcasses or waste

You need Part B permit if your activities will cause emissions to air.
https://www.gov.uk/local-authority-environmental-permit 1/3
6/15/2021 Local authority environmental permits (England and Wales) - GOV.UK

Read the guidance for A2 and Part B activities (http://www.defra.gov.uk/industrial-emissions/las-

regulations/guidance/).

You will be charged a fee (http://www.defra.gov.uk/industrial-emissions/las-regulations/charges-risk/) when

you apply for a Part A(2) or B environmental permit.

Exemptions
Not all activities require a Part A(2) or B permit. Waste operations that cause more significant
pollution will instead require a Part A(1) permit from the Environment Agency (http://www.environment-
agency.gov.uk) or Natural Resources Wales. (https://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en)

You may need to register the activity as an exempt operation with either the Environment Agency,
Natural Resources Wales or your local authority if you carry out an:

exempt waste operation

exempt water discharge activity
exempt groundwater activity

If you breach a permit condition

You may be served with an enforcement notice if your local authority believes you’ve breached a
permit condition or you’re likely to. The notice will include the:

suspected breaches
steps that you must take to remedy them
time period you have to take such steps

They may serve you with a suspension notice, suspending your permit, if they believe your regulated
facility is causing, or is likely to cause, serious pollution.

Fines and penalties

You may be committing a criminal offence and may be fined, imprisoned for up to 2 years or both, if
you:

fail to provide information when requested

provide false or misleading information
make a false entry in any records you keep
forge or use a forged document or permit

The application may be withdrawn if you fail to provide information requested in relation to your
application.

If the court believes you have the power to remedy your contravention, you may be ordered to take
specified steps for remedying the matter, in addition to, or instead of, a fine or imprisonment.

If the local authority takes action to prevent pollution or remedy any pollution that has occurred as a
result of your actions, they may seek to recover the costs of doing so from you.

You may be fined, imprisoned for up to 5 years or both if you fail to comply with the requirement to
hold an environmental permit.

https://www.gov.uk/local-authority-environmental-permit 2/3
6/15/2021 Local authority environmental permits (England and Wales) - GOV.UK

Brexit
Check what you need to do (https://www.gov.uk/brexit)

Explore the topic

Business and the environment (https://www.gov.uk/business-and-industry/business-and-the-
environment)
Environmental permits (https://www.gov.uk/environment/environmental-permits)
Rural and countryside (https://www.gov.uk/environment/rural-and-countryside)

Is this page useful?

Yes this page is useful
No this page is not useful

Thank you for your feedback

Report a problem with this page
Close

Help us improve GOV.UK

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card
details.

What were you doing?

What went wrong?
Send
Close

Help us improve GOV.UK

To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. We’ll send you a link to a
feedback form. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your
email address with anyone.

Email address
Send me the survey

https://www.gov.uk/local-authority-environmental-permit 3/3