If a site requires an Environmental Permit in England and Wales, it is subject to charges governed by charging schemes created under powers granted by the Environment Act 1995.
These schemes set the permit application charges and the permit subsistence charges.
John Dyne has outlined everything site owners need to be aware of:
Application and subsistence charges
An operator will need to pay an application fee when applying for a new permit. Once the permit is issued, an annual subsistence charge will need to be paid.
The application fee will depend on the activity and type of permit and will depend on the work needed to be carried out when the permit application is assessed.
The subsistence charge will depend on the cost of regulating the permitted activity and well as the applicable compliance rating adjustment applicable in future years.
Compliance band
The charging year for subsistence charges is from 1st April to 31st March.
Subsistence charges are adjusted (e.g. to account for installations and waste operations) according to the permitted site compliance banding.
This compliance band is worked out by reference to the compliance rating score accumulated over the previous calendar year.
A good compliance record will keep the operator in Band A and a Band A waste activity or installation will pay 95% of the subsistence charge in the following charging year.
A poor compliance score in a previous calendar year will result in a higher subsistence charge in the following charging year based upon the compliance rating adjustment percentage.
Compliance Classification Scheme
The compliance rating bands will therefore have a significant impact on the subsistence charge paid by the operator.
For example, a D Banding will mean an uplift of the charge by 125% and an F Banding a 300% uplift.
These Bands are linked to non-compliance scores for permit breaches scored in accordance with the Compliance Classification Scheme (CCS).
The CCS has 4 risk categories representing the severity of the reasonably foreseeable impact on the breach (or in the case of amenity condition breaches) the actual impact.
Each condition breach is a risk category scored in accordance with CCS and the scores are accumulated over the compliance year.
Compliance Assessment Reports
It is important to check the CCS scores on Compliance Assessment Reports (CARs) for errors. Erroneous scores could have a significant impact if unchecked.
Errors on CARs do occur (John finds them on a regular basis) and some operators may be paying excessive and unwarranted subsistence charges due to the incorrect application of the CCS.
A single unwarranted point could potentially tip an operator into a lower grade compliance Band giving rise to a significant increase in subsistence charges as a result of the compliance rating adjustment.
If you require advice on subsistence charges or any related Environmental Law and waste management obligations, contact John Dyne today.