Appeals
360 Environmental can guide you through the entire permitting appeal process on a highly cost effective basis, whether your challenge is against a permit refusal or an enforcement, suspension or other notice.
We have successfully applied for over 100 permits across a wide range of sectors and have the technical knowledge to manage any appeal process, working in close conjunction with a specialist barrister with a proven track record to provide additional legal guidance and advocacy as needed.
Our comprehensive understanding of the practical problems of operating within the permitting regime means that if you do have legal difficulties with a regulator we can identify the relevant issues at the earliest stage. This avoids wasting costs by instructing lawyers who do not understand the factual difficulties.
The demands on permitted sites from regulatory controls are making is increasingly difficult for operators to manage their sites within the expectations of the Environment Agency. Varying interpretations, changing EA local staff and legislative amendments are seeing new Permit applications subject to increased rejections and existing permits under pressure to change the way they operate, often affecting the commercial viability of the site. This is currently being illustrated by the intense pressure on sites that handle combustible material to produce and implement Fire Prevention Plans under the new EA guidance.
The new powers for the Agency to suspend Permits where they believe there is a risk of pollution is leading to many operators being subject to enforcement action that will effectively put the operator out of business. The removal of the word ‘serious’ from the risk of pollution has left the door wide open for subjective assessment and unreasonable action. Whilst we fully support the EA’s drive to improve site quality, we are concerned that there may be instances where businesses are unable to operate due to an unreasonable position being adopted by the EA.
Many operators are not aware of the right to Appeal. The Appeal Procedure Guidance states that the following are grounds for Appeal:
4. Regulation 31 gives the following persons the right of appeal against the decision made by the regulator:
a) a person whose application is refused;
b) a person who is aggrieved by a decision to impose an environmental permit condition following that person’s application;
c) a person who is aggrieved by a decision to impose a condition on an environmental permit held by that person—
(i) as a result of a regulator-initiated variation, or (ii) to take account of the partial transfer, partial revocation or partial surrender of that environmental permit;
d) a person who is aggrieved by the deemed withdrawal under paragraph 4(2) of Part 1 of Schedule 5 of that person’s duly-made application;
e) a person who is aggrieved by a decision relating to an environmental permit held by that person not to authorise the closure procedure mentioned in—
(i) Article 13 of the Landfill Directive after a request referred to in Article 13(a)(ii) of that Directive, or
(ii) Article 12 of the Mining Waste Directive after a request referred to in Article 12(2)(b) of that Directive;
f) a person on whom an enforcement notice, a revocation notice, suspension notice, prohibition notice, landfill closure notice or mining waste facility closure notice is served.
360 Environmental has worked with a number of barristers specialised in this field and together, we can can provide a unique and highly cost effective combination of expertise.
In addition we can provide you with assistance in criminal or other legal issues, or refer you on if need be to other specialists.
For further information, please contact us using the contact form below or by email to [email protected]