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Review of Process Guidance (PG) Notes

Following a consultation (PDF 85 KB) in November 2008 and summary of responses (PDF 235 KB) in March 2009 all the PG notes are being reviewed.  This will be completed by the end of 2012.   Existing published PG notes remain the statutory guidance to which local authorities must have regard while any note is being reviewed. Paragraphs 31 and 32 of the 2008 consultation paper explain the status of draft notes emerging from the 6-year review.

If you represent an operator, a trade association, an environmental technology manufacturer or a local authority and would wish to be involved in the review of any of the guidance notes, please contact the Environment Agency’s Local Authority Unit at LAU@environment-agency.gov.uk

PG Notes under consultation

The following guidance notes are, or have been, subject to final written consultation by Defra following the drafting and consultation stages undertaken by the Local Authority Unit on behalf of Defra:

Closed Consultations

Following the consultation process a number of Process Guidance notes have now been published in final version.

Process Guidance Notes not being reviewed

Solvent note PG6/13 (04) “Coil Coating” will not be reviewed as part of the 2009-12 review of all the process guidance notes, because there were understood to be few if any relevant installations operating in the UK.  In the event that there are any such installations, this note should be treated as constituting statutory guidance in England and Wales, under regulation 64 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, SI2010/675. non-statutory guidance in Scotland and statutory guidance in Northern Ireland on the pollution control standards appropriate for the generality of new and existing Part B (England and Wales), Part B (Scotland) and Part C (Northern Ireland) installations.

Timetable

This is an indicative timetable, because the time taken to review individual notes is expected to vary, depending on the complexity of issues arising, degree of engagement by stakeholders and unforeseen additional work. This latest revision to the timetable, which shows a further delay of 6 months until the end of the programme April 2013, is a result of the additional work required to develop new simplified permit and application forms for potentially low risk activities. This work will result in less regulatory work, lower application fees and subsistence charges where appropriate. The timetable will be reviewed regularly, and revisions will be published at least twice a year in July and January.

The tables below were updated in January 2012.  No further major adjustments to the timetable are foreseen.

Sector group Start of review for sector Publication of revised guidance
Solvents (completed) 9 June 2009 February 2011
Combustion & Incineration 1 September 2010 1 February 2012
Minerals 1 November 2010 1 June 2012
Metals 1 September 2011 1 July 2012
Petroleum 1 July 2012 1 March 2013
Others 1 July 2012 1 April 2013
Animal and vegetable processing 1 July 2012 1 April 2013

Note: Date of final publication is approximately 4 months after the dates given above.

Number of processes and number of notes

Sector group Number of processes [GB]* Number of notes
Solvents 3600 25
Combustion & Incineration 1900 8
Minerals 3300 15
Metals 680 12
Petroleum 6400  
Others 300 6
Animal and vegetable processing 190 9

*approximate

Page last modified: 6 September 2012