Today, the UK and Welsh Governments have launched an eight-week consultation on reforming environmental permitting for England and Wales with the aim to speed up the work of regulators and the industries they regulate (read the announcement here). Government has indicated this to be one step in its commitment to a ‘new approach’ to regulate for growth. You can read more about this new approach in the Government’s Regulatory Action Plan published on 31st March. Further, the consultation was recommended by Dan Corry in his recently published landmark review into the regulators and regulation at the Defra.

The consultation seeks views on proposed changes to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. The proposals relate to England and Wales only, and are specific to flood risk activities, waste operations, water discharge activities, and groundwater activities. In England only, they also relate 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.

The aim of these proposed changes is ‘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.’

Government expects that the proposed changes would make the permitting regime more agile in managing environmental risk and provide greater business certainty and transparency — for instance by allowing quicker and more flexible responses to new technologies and emerging risks.

Read the full consultation here. The deadline for responses is 3rd June. Please forward and comments or feedback to inform the REA response to Megan (mmuller-girard@r-e-a.net) by 16th May.