Permit Variation Application

A permit variation application allows you to change conditions in your environmental permit. If you have a standard rules permit you can’t change those conditions. If you need to change the conditions in a standard rules permit it becomes a bespoke permit.

The types of things you can change in your permit variation application include:

• Site boundary
• Treatment types – crushing/grading etc
• EWC’s – waste codes
• Tonnages – both annual throughput and max at one time on site
• Abatement options
• Monitoring
• Flows
• Merge with another permit

All of these changes require a permit variation application to the Environment Agency.

Your permit variation application can be either, administrative, technical, minor, normal or substantial. Each attracts a different EA fee and of course each requires different application forms and surveys to support it.

Your variation application must consider the additional risks to the environment that may occur as a result of your proposed change. For example if you currently handle non-hazardous waste but want to introduce hazardous waste to site, you will need to prove that this is not harmful to the environment.

The process of changing your permit is almost as lengthy as getting a permit in the first place. You should allow at least six months even for a minor variation to add a couple of additional waste codes for example.

For each additional survey that is required to be submitted with a variation application, you will need to pay an additional fee to the Environment Agency. So for example if you are introducing combustible waste to site you will need to provide a fire prevention plan. If you are introducing odorous waste to site you will need to produce an odour management plan.

Paul Downing & Associates have helped many clients change their permit conditions as their businesses change and grow. Call us today on 07790147084.