Industrial Air Pollution Control

Some specified industrial processes need to be licensed, in order to ensure that process emissions (air, water, land, noise and heat) are controlled to an acceptable level, prior to being released by into the local environment.

Schedule 1 of The Environmental Protection (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1991 (as amended) and Schedule 1 of the Pollution Prevention & Control Regulations (England & Wales) 2000 contain details of activities, installation and mobile plant that require authorisation/permits to operate. These are known as prescribed processes.

Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 established two pollution control systems: local air pollution control (LAPC) system enforced by local authorities in England and Wales and by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in Scotland (referred to as "local enforcing authorities"), and an integrated pollution control (IPC) system enforced by The Environment Agency in England and Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in Scotland.

Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is progressively being replaced by regulations under the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Act 1999. This Act and the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000, SI 1973 transpose into domestic law the European Union Directive 96/61 on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC).

The regulations also enable improvements to be made in pollution control generally and provide a single coherent regulatory framework for IPPC and LAPC, rather than having two frameworks with similar but subtly different terminology. They will extend integrated control - covering releases to air, water and land - to some 6,000 installations, compared to the 2,000 regulated under the IPC regime.
The extra installations include around 1,000 currently regulated under the LAPC regime but for which local authorities will retain regulatory responsibility - so-called Part A2 activities (Local Authority Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control - LA IPPC). The LAPC regime will also be replaced by Local Air Pollution Prevention and Control (LAPPC), which is similar to IPPC in procedures but will still regulate emissions to air only.

Explanation of Terms

LAPC	Part B processes currently regulated under the Environmental Protection Act 1990
IPC	Part A processes currently regulated under the Environmental Protection Act 1990
IPPC	The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control system established under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 and comprising Part A1 and A2 activities/installations
PPC	The PPC system established under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 and comprising A1 and A2 activities/installations subject to integrated control, and Part B activities/installations subject to air pollution control
LA-IPPC	Part A2 activities/installations which are subject to local authority regulated IPPC
LAPPC	Part B activities/installations which will be subject to local authority PPC air pollution control over a transitional period starting in April 2002

Prescribed processes designated for local control must not be operated without an authorisation/permit from the local enforcing authority in whose area they are located. Mobile plant must be authorised by the local enforcing authority in whose area the operator has his principal place of business.

Operators of prescribed processes must submit a detailed application for authorisation to the local enforcing authority. This should include details of the potential emission from the proposed process. The following information must be included in an application for an authorisation/permit-:

Applicant details including the registered office and ultimate holding company.
The installation address where the process is/will be carried out (including a grid reference).
A detailed description of the activities carried out at the installation, including identification of any potential emission sources and how these will be controlled.
A plan showing the location and extent of the installation.
A plan showing the layout of activities on site and identifying any point emission sources.
Details of any emission monitoring that has been carried out/is proposed.
Copies of procedures and polices in relation to the environmental management of installation activities.
Assessment of the potential significant local environment effects of the foreseeable emissions.

All applications for authorisation (except in relation to small waste oil burners, petrol stations and mobile plant) must be advertised locally and full details (except information that is commercially confidential or would prejudice national security) must be made available so that the public can comment before the process is authorised to start operation or to undergo a substantial change.

Local authorities are statutorily obliged to include conditions in any authorisation they issue which are designed to ensure that the process is operated using the Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Cost (BATNEEC) to prevent and minimise emissions of prescribed substances and to render harmless any substance that may be emitted. In addition to any specific conditions included in an authorisation, all authorisations implicitly impose a duty on the operator to use BATNEEC for any aspect of the process that is not covered by the specific conditions. This is the so-called 'residual' BATNEEC duty.

Local authorities hold a public registers containing details of all IPC/IPPC and LA-PC/LA-PPC processes in its area. These must include details of applications, authorisations, notices, directions issued by the Secretary of State, appeal decisions, monitoring data, etc. Information is to be kept from the register only on grounds of national security or commercial confidentiality.

Local authorities have powers of entry, inspection, sampling, investigation, and seizure of articles or substances, which are a cause of imminent danger of serious harm.
Barnsley MBC currently has approximately 100 processes authorised under the legislation.

List of Part B Processes (.pdf 108k)
List of Part A2 Processes (.pdf 16k)
Application Form Part B (EPA 1990) (.pdf 104k)
Application Form Petrol Service Station (EPA 1990) (.pdf 44k)
Application Form Waste Oil Burners (EPA 1990) (.pdf 21k)
Application for Part B Permit (PPC 1999) (.pdf 83k)
Application for Part A2 Permit (IPPC 1999) (.pdf 113k)