The consultation focused on changes to standard rules permits, required as a result of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED). The NFU responded to the consultation in September 2012.
The response:
- Agrees that standard rules permits for composting which are limited to 500t on-site at any one time do not meet the 75 tonne per day threshold limit, and are therefore outside of the scope of the IED.
- Agrees with the need to communicate transitional arrangements to businesses that will be required to hold an IED permit by the final deadline of 7 July 2015.
- Agrees to ensure there is consistency across new IED permits and existing waste permits i.e. for anaerobic digestion.
- Explains that the extra fee for IED permits is to cover the cost of assessing the "baseline report" but acknowledges thatassessment of compliancefor composting sites is the same for IED and non-IED permits, and accordinglysets both types of permitsthe same subsistence charge.
- States that theextra subsistence fee for large-scale AD plants will pay for additional inspections by field officers.
The full response can be found on the EA website.
What happens now?
New versions of the IED Standard Rules Permits will be available on the EA website shortly as the IEDshould now (as of 7 January 2013) be being implemented for new permits (this has however been subject to delay due to the regulations not yet being in place).
New versions of updated Standard Rules Permits will be published on the website following a three month period of notification to relevant permit holders.