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Jurisdiction: Scotland
Commencement: 1stth December 2022
Amends: Planning (Hazardous Substances) (Scotland) Act 1997 (c.10)
The planning authority is required to consult with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), or in some cases the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), when considering an application for hazardous substances consent. The HSE (or ONR) will consider the hazards and risks which the hazardous substance may present to people in the surrounding area, and take account of existing and potential developments, in advising the planning authority on whether or not consent should be granted.
Various duties apply.
A transitional exemption is added for Section 21 (Offences). This means that an offence is not committed under this section and a hazardous contravention notice cannot be issued before 1st December 2023.
This exemption only applies to:
*Established quantity means the maximum quantity of substance that is approved.
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Jurisdiction: England & Wales
Commencement: 29th September 2022
Amends: Business and Planning Act 2020 (2020 c.16)
Various duties apply.
The expiry date for premises licences, which allow organisations to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises, is extended to 30th September 2023 in England and Wales only.
This amendment has no direct relevance to environmental or occupational health and safety matters.
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Jurisdiction: Republic of Ireland
Commencement: 5th August 2022
Amends: New Legislation
These Regulations implement Regulation (EU) 517/2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC) 842/2006 and set out certification requirements, offences and enforcement powers relating to fluorinated greenhouse gases.
The following provisions are revoked.
Certification
Persons must hold a valid certification to:
The Environmental Protection Agency may request persons to translate certifications or training attestations issued by another Member State into English.
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (the Minister) must:
The Minister may designate persons to complete undertakings on their behalf. This includes:
The Minister may withdraw designations at any point in accordance with Article 15.
The Minister must notify the European Commission of any designated certification bodies.
Offences
It is an offence to:
Enforcement
The Environmental Protection Agency may appoint authorised officers for the purposes of ensuring compliance with these Regulations.
Authorised officers must product a copy of their identification where requested.
An authorised officer may:
Compliance and prohibition notice
The Environmental Protection Agency may serve a compliance notice to persons failing to limit fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions.
This notice must state:
The Environmental Protection Agency or authorised officer may issue a prohibition notice to persons placing fluorinated greenhouse gases or products containing fluorinated greenhouse gases on the market unlawfully.
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Jurisdiction: England, Scotland & Wales
Commencement: 28th July 2022
Amends: New Legislation
The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2022 establishes the fourth Energy Compliance Obligation scheme (ECO4) which will run until 31st March 2026.
This Order establishes the fourth Energy Compliance Obligation scheme (ECO4) which will run until 31st March 2026.
The scheme places duties on large energy suppliers* to implement energy efficiency measures with the aim to reduce the cost of heating domestic properties. Duties are also placed on the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority.
*Large energy suppliers are licenced gas and electricity suppliers** that exceed the minimum qualifying supply*** of electricity and gas supplied to domestic customers.
**Licenced gas and energy suppliers are suppliers who hold a licence under Section 6(1)(d) of the Electricity Act 1989 and / or a licence under Section 7A of the Gas Act 1986.
***Qualifying supply means:
Phases
The scheme is split into 4 phases.
Previous ECO schemes ran from:
Various duties apply
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The Government has announced the establishment of a new Best Available Techniques framework for the United Kingdom (UK BAT) to prevent and reduce harmful industrial emissions to air, water and land, as the country moves away from the European Union’s framework.
N.B. Although the UK no longer needs to meet the requirements of any new European Union (EU) BAT following Brexit, existing EU BAT continue to apply in the UK through the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
Best Available Techniques (BAT) are the best economically and technologically viable techniques to prevent or minimise emissions and impacts on the environment. You need to use BAT if your organisation has any permitted installations, e.g. a refinery or food factory.
The new UK BAT framework will be developed by technical working groups (TWG) which will include experts from:
The draft UK BAT Conclusions (BATC) will be published in public consultations for comment, following which the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments together with the Northern Ireland Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) will publish the final BATC as statutory instruments. The BATC will then be used as a basis for environmental permit conditions.
Given the complexity of the industrial sector, the UK BAT system will take between 1 and 3 years to complete, with the order of the industries to be announced in advance by the Government. For now, the first 4 industries to establish new BAT (likely by the second half of next year) are:
If you would like to read a bit more into UK BAT, please click here.
We know environmental aspects are an issue many struggle with; in fact, it’s an area our consultants are often called in to help with.
Our Environmental Aspects Training for ISO 14001:2015 has been created for anyone who needs to know more about environmental aspects or wants to refresh their knowledge.
In this course you will learn how to build the environmental aspects register for your organisation from start to finish, allowing you to get stuck in and gain valuable feedback from our experienced consultants. (Even if you already have a register, you will pick up tips to improve and refresh your current register.)
Our aspects course has been built ‘remote first’, meaning we’ve tailored this course to be delivered virtually via Microsoft Teams. We’ve also split the course over 2 half-day sessions to help ease the burden on your schedule and to avoid training fatigue. Our consultants are qualified virtual trainers, and as a team, we know that attendees get more out of this format than an all-day remote training course.
To book on to the course or for more information, visit the course page below.
For those of you who aren’t new here, I’m sure you’ll be well aware by now that 100% of all our profits are donated to our parent charity, Newground Together. This month we take a look at Offshoots permaculture project following our team visit.
Offshoots is a community permaculture project tucked away in the historic walled garden of Towneley Hall in Towneley Park, Burnley.
Offshoots was established in 1997, and after many years of hard work from dedicated staff and volunteers, the centre is now a thriving community garden and training centre.
As well as being a local hub for volunteering and community sessions, Offshoots is also an educational site with a focus on environmental sustainability, looking at ways in which we can change how we live for the benefit of ourselves, our families and our communities.
On site, there are eco-friendly buildings that are powered by renewable energy, organic vegetable production areas, beekeeping, a forest garden, a wildlife pond and reed bed, a charcoal kiln (made from cob) and a backyard garden demonstration area.
As part of our recent team building day, our team spent some time volunteering at Offshoots. During the day, some members of the team helped in the woodwork area, others weeding and gardening, whilst the remaining team foraged for materials to be used in Offshoots’ upcoming 25th-anniversary celebration!
Offshoots is part of our parent charity and as such, it benefits directly from profits generated by our business, and subsequently your support.
You can find out more about Offshoots on their facebook page.
Jurisdiction: United Kingdom
Commencement: 11th August 2022
Amends: United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020
As the United Kingdom (UK) has left the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is introduced to ensure businesses can continue to trade goods freely and effectively across the UK.
The Act establishes two principles that apply to goods and services which are known as the ‘Market Access Principles‘:
The market access principles allow organisations to trade without additional barriers based on which UK nation they are in. They also provide access of qualifying goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.
This entry focuses on the parts of the Act that relate to the environment; specifically this relates to the exclusions from mutual recognition and non-discrimination for goods.
Exclusions
There are certain specific exclusions from mutual recognition and non-discrimination for goods. An exclusion is a policy area, area of regulation or type of relevant requirement that is not subject to the principles. These areas can be updated and changed in the future if required in response to changes in market conditions.
Schedule 1 of the Act lists certain areas of exclusion from either or both Market Access Principles. The areas that are excluded from mutual recognition and relate to environmental management are:
The area excluded from both mutual recognition and non-discrimination that relates to environmental management is sanitary and phytosanitary measures relating to serious threats to animal and plant health. This ensures that the measures can be implemented, to take account of differences in pest and disease prevalence across the UK. Any measure falling under this exclusion needs to be supported by a risk assessment demonstrating the measure was reasonable and justified.
There are no direct compliance duties for organisations in this Act.
Amendment
The following single-use items are excluded from the United Kingdom (UK) Market Access Principles in response to the prohibition of sale of single-use plastics.
Schedule 1 is amended accordingly.
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Jurisdiction: Republic of Ireland
Commencement: 15th July 2022
Amends: Forestry Regulations 2017
The Forestry Regulations 2017 provide detailed rules for the control of forestry activities in the areas of felling, afforestation, forest road works and aerial fertilisation of forests as provided for in the Forestry Act 2014. They also give further effect to the European Directives relating to Environmental Impact Assessment.
Part 2: Control of felling of trees
An application for a licence in respect of tree felling must, include the information specified in section 17(2) of the Forestry Act 2014, and:
Where the Minister has granted a licence for the felling of trees, the person who receives the licence must put up a notice at the entrance to the land, advising the public that the tree felling is being carried out or timber extraction is ongoing in accordance with a licence issued by the Minister.
Part 3: Control of afforestation
An application for a licence in respect of afforestation must include the information specified in section 22(2) of the Forestry Act 2014 and:
An application must be accompanied by:
Part 4: Control of forest road works
An application for a licence in respect of forest road works must include information specified in section 22(2) of the Forestry Act 2014 and:
An application must contain:
Part 5: Control of aerial fertilization of forests
An application for a licence in respect of aerial fertilization must include the information specified in section 22(2) of the Forestry Act 2014 and:
An application must be accompanied by:
A person must not carry out aerial fertilization in the period from 1st September to 31st March of the following year, unless granted by the Minister in exception circumstances.
A person must not carry out aerial fertilization within:
A person engaged in aerial fertilization must not, exceed the parameters set out in Schedule 2.
Part 6: Consultation
A consultation may be carried out for certain applications for an afforestation licence, a forest road works licence, and a aerial fertilization licence.
Part 7: Environmental Impact Assessment
This Part requires projects likely to have a significant effects on the environment by virtue of their nature, size or location are made subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIS).
Part 8: Appropriate assessment
This Part provides information on the appropriate assessment of European sites.
Part 9: Decisions
Part 9 outlines the decision process for the Minister.
Part 10: Miscellaneous
Part 10 provides miscellaneous information including revocations
Amendment
Regulation 8(3) concerning restrictions for aerial fertilisation is updated.
Aerial fertilisation must not be carried out within 20 metres of a monument or archaeological area.
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Jurisdiction: England
Commencement: 20th July 2022
Amends: Building Safety Act 2022 (c. 30)
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduces changes to building regulation and control for higher-risk buildings (buildings of at least 18m in height or with at least 7 storeys, and in either case containing at least 2 residential units) in England. It is made primarily in response to the Grenfell Tower disaster and the inadequacies that caused it.
To enable these changes, this Act establishes a building safety regulator as part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), with the objectives of securing the safety of people in / around buildings and improving the general standard of buildings. This regulator enforces the many new duties imposed on an accountable person in relation to higher-risk buildings, laid out in this Act. In addition to higher-risk buildings, this Act also lays the groundwork for future regulations on prohibition of development and building control and construction products, and makes significant amendments to the Building Act 1984.
Section 126 lays down the groundwork for the establishment of ‘building industry schemes’ by the Secretary of State. These will be created to help ensure safety in and around buildings as well as to improve the overall standard of buildings.
Different sections of this Act come into force at different times (outlined in Section 170). Part 2 (The regulator and its functions) and Part 4 (Higher-risk buildings) largely come into force for the purposes of making additional regulations under this Act on the day this Act is passed. Part 3 will be brought into force by subsequent regulations made by either the Welsh Ministers (for Wales) or Secretary of State (for England).
Premises to which the Fire Safety Order applies:
Where a building contain two or more sets of domestic premises, the Order will apply to:
Power to change premises to which the Fire Safety Order applies:
In England, the Secretary of State is given the power to make changes, or to clarify the premises the Order applies to, through further Regulations. In Wales, this power is give to the Welsh Ministers. In both cases, they must carry out a consultation beforehand.
Various duties apply.
Amendment
Provisions are introduced to protect leaseholders* from liability for remediation of certain defects for buildings over 11 metres in height or of at least 5 storeys.
*Leaseholders are defined as any tenant under a lease for a dwelling in a building.
Landlords must retain details of any defects and works carried out on the relevant building from 28th June 2017.
The landlord must provide details of any remediation work carried out before 28th April 2052.
Regulation 6 requires landlords to provide the leaseholder with a certificate when requesting payment for remediation. This certificate must:
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Stay up-to-date with topical news and legislation from The Compliance People. Selected updates direct to your inbox.
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