|
Public Participation Directive
August 2005
Amendments to the PPC Regulations which implemented the Public Participation Directive were published in June 2005. The Polllution Prevention and Control (Public Participation)(England and Wales) Regulations 2005 will apply to applications for permits or variations made after 25 June.
PPD requirements apply to three categories of application for PPC “Part A” activities. The public must be given ‘early and effective’ opportunities to participate in the procedure for
- Issuing a permit for new installations (not existing installations);
- Issuing a permit for any substantial change in the operation of an installation; and
- Updating of a permit or permit conditions for an installation in accordance with Article 13, paragraph 2, first indent.
Substantial change is defined in the Directive as ‘any change to or extension of an operation shall be deemed to be substantial if the change or extension in itself meets the thresholds, if any, set out in Annex 1’.
The third category applies to permit variation procedures where `the pollution caused by the installation is of such significance that the existing emission limit values of the permit need to be revised or new such values need to be included in the permit’.
The proposed PPD application process is almost the same as the current process to the point where the Agency would now be required to produces a draft determination or proposed notice of variation. The Agency would then be required to notify the applicant and advertise that notification to the public by means of its web site and any other means it considers appropriate. The Agency would also have to make available at that point a “decision document” setting out the reasons and considerations on which its draft decision is based.
The advertisement of the draft determination will give the public 28 days in which to make representations to the regulator on the draft determination. If no representations are received, the decision will become final 7 days after the end of that period. If representations are received, the regulator will have to consider them and finalise its decision within a further 15 working days or a longer period agreed with the applicant and then advertise that finalisation in the same way as for the draft decision.
Polllution Prevention and Control (Public Participation)(England and Wales) Regulations 2005
Defra has also published an updated IPPC Practical guide.
|
