Waste exemptions reform – consultation on new powers for the EA and NRW

Defra has issued a consultation seeking views on changes which the UK government is proposing to make to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (“the regulations”). The consultation is part of the government’s regulating for growth programme.

The environmental permitting regime aims to:

• Protect the environment so that statutory and government policy environmental targets and outcomes are achieved; and
• Operate effectively and efficiently, in a way that provides increased clarity and minimises the administrative burden on both regulators and operators.

In 2023, a post implementation review of the regulations was published. The review found the regulations appeared to be functioning effectively but there are potential improvements. Possible improvements include making the framework more responsive to changes and the needs of operators. The consultation proposals should achieve these by making the process for creating exemptions and amending their conditions more flexible.

What is proposed

It is proposed to give the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales new powers to define types of regulated facility that are exempt from the need to hold a permit, and to set the conditions that apply to them. The proposals also include options to safeguard the regulators’ transparency and accountability when making decisions on how the rules for exempt facilities should apply.

Proposals (for England and Wales only) relate to the following classes:

• Flood risk activities
• Waste operations
• Water discharge activities
• Groundwater activities

A further proposal, in England only, relates to the forthcoming waste controlling and transporting activities which could be introduced to the regulations as part of any reforms to the waste carrier, broker and dealer registration system in England. They include stringent safeguards to prevent environmental harm and will complement separate initiatives by regulators to increase scrutiny, oversight and ultimately the performance of permitted sectors.

Why?

The government states it is “committed to improving regulation to ensure we are protecting the environment whilst supporting economic growth by reducing the burden of regulation.” It considers the proposed changes would make “the permitting regime more agile in managing environmental risk and provide greater business certainty and transparency.”

As the environmental regime has changed over time, and continues to change, the government wants to streamline arrangements around the types of controls that apply to different types of environmental risk. It aims to “simplify and speed up the process for the lead regulators (the Environment Agency in England and Natural Resources Wales in Wales) to create, amend and remove types of exempt facilities and activities which are not required to hold an environmental permit.”

Responses

Views are sought from businesses and sectors that fall within the scope of these reforms along with wider organisations and individuals across local government, civil society and academia.

Contributions are welcome from respondents which can strengthen Defra’s analysis of the potential impact of these proposals. Defra is particularly keen to hear views from stakeholders with an interest in the classes of activities and facilities that will be affected by the proposals (flood risk activities, waste operations, water discharge activities, groundwater activities, and – in England only – waste controlling and transport activities).

The consultation closes on 3rd June 2025 and can be found here.

Clyde & Co are specialists in dealing with environmental reulatory claims, and we closely monitor developments around this topic. For more on this subject, you can read all of our previous articles here, and if you have any questions about this topic you can contact Rod Hunt or any of our Safety, Health, Environment & Regulatory team.