Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018: Proposed changes to the Charging Scheme
2.3. Changes to existing industrial activity charges
This section details the changes to application and subsistence charges for existing industrial activities currently regulated under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (PPC).
Most charges for industrial activities will stay the same. A small number will increase or decrease, and this may be a result of:
- The activity changing to a different level of authorisation, for example, a Permit level activity moving to a Registration.
- A lower or higher level of SEPA work required to regulate the activity once it is authorised.
- Where there is a change in authorisation structure, for example, under PPC, there are two levels of permit: PPC part A and PPC part B. Some activities have been streamlined into one authorisation level under the Regulations, so we have proposed one charge.
Table 3: Charging changes to existing industrial activities lists:
- Current application and subsistence charge vs the new charges.
- Current charging activity description vs the new charging activity description. The new description is what will appear on a SEPA invoice once the Regulations are implemented.
We have revised some application fees to align with other application charges for equivalent activities, reflecting the level of work we undertake to process those applications. The revised charges will apply to the following activities currently described as:
- PPC A: The operation by a third party of an activity described under Part B of Schedule 1 of the PPC regulations, as part of a Part A installation, Regulation 12(1). (Reference 10190).
We do not currently charge an application fee for the operation by a third party of a Part B activity within the boundary of a Part A installation. The level of resource required to process an application of this type is equivalent to the resource required to process a standard Part B application; therefore, we are not recovering our costs. We intend to introduce an application charge that is equivalent to the current charge for a standard Part B application which falls under the current description:
'Any other Part B activity not described elsewhere in this table’ and charged £2,838. (Reference 10210)."
- PPC A: The operation by a third party of part of a Part A activity installation. (Reference 10200).
We do not currently charge an application fee for the operation by a third party of part of a PPC Part A activity. However, the level of resource required to process an application of this type is equivalent to the resource required to process a standard PPC Part A application; therefore, we are not recovering our costs. We intend to introduce a charge that is equivalent to the current charge for standard PPC Part A applications which fall under the current description:
'Any other Part A activity not described elsewhere in this table’ and charged £14,190. (Reference 10160).
- Directly Associated Activity (DAA) (operated by a third party) as defined in Regulation 2(1). (References 10170 and 10180 (low-risk activities)).
We do not currently charge an application fee for DAAs operated by a third party. However, our resources are required to process applications of this type. Generally, these activities have a lower impact on the environment. In many cases, we would not normally regulate these activities on their own. However, when they are connected to a Part A site, and in accordance with the Regulations, we must authorise them. Therefore, we intend to introduce an application charge of £659, equivalent to the application charge for a standard registration level activity.
- PPC B: 1.1 Combustion of any fuel where thermal input is greater than 20MW but less than or equal to 50MW. (Reference 10450).
We are bringing these in line with Medium Combustion Plant subject to a bespoke permit (Reference 10460). This applies to activities with a thermal input of between 1MW and 20MW. The charge for this is £1,703.
The subsistence charges associated with all three of these activities will remain the same as the level of ongoing regulatory work will not change.
Table 3: Charging changes to existing industrial activities
| SEPA Ref |
Current charging activity description | Current application charge | Current subsistence charge | New SEPA Ref | New charging activity description | New application charge (Band) |
New subsistence charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10980 | PPC B: 6.8c - Ensiling of dead fish or fish offal. | £659 | £774 | 20018 | Schedule 26: Ensiling and storage of dead fish or fish offal below 10m3 capacity. (REGISTRATION) | £659 (Band 7) |
£774 |
| 10980 | PPC B: 6.8c - Ensiling of dead fish or fish offal. | £659 | £774 | 20019 | Schedule 26: Ensiling and storage of dead fish or fish offal below 10m3 capacity. (REGISTRATION) | £659 (Band 7) |
£774 |
| 11410 | PPC B: 6.4 - Coating, printing and textile treatment activities. | £2,838 | £1,576 | 20020 | Schedule 26: Road vehicle resprayers (REGISTRATION) | £659 (Band 7) |
£1,576 |
| 11410 | PPC B: 6.4 - Coating, printing and textile treatment activities. | £2,838 | £1,576 | 20021 | Schedule 26: Coating printing and textile treatment activities. (PERMIT) | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£1,576 |
| 11420 | PPC A: 6.5 - Manufacture of dyestuffs if the activity involves the use of hexachlorobenzene. | £14,190 | £9,022 | 20022 | Schedule 26: Manufacture of dyestuffs, printing ink and coating materials | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£1,576 |
| 11430 | PPC B: 6.5 - Manufacture of dyestuffs, printing Ink and coating Materials. | £2,838 | £1,576 | 20022 | Schedule 26: Manufacture of dyestuffs, printing ink and coating materials | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£1,576 |
| 11780 | PPC B: 3.5(a);(b);(c);(d) & (f) (any combinations) - Crushing, screening & loading (excluding cement). | £2,838 | £650 | 20023 | Schedule 26: Using crushing and screening equipment excluding coal, PFA and cement (NOTIFICATION) | £0 (Band 0) |
£0 |
| 11780 | PPC B: 3.5(a);(b);(c);(d) & (f) (any combinations) - Crushing, screening & loading (excluding cement). | £2,838 | £650 | 20024 | Schedule 26: Using crushing and screening equipment excluding coal, PFA and cement (NOTIFICATION) | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£650 |
| 11790 | PPC B: 3.5(e) and/or (g) - Coating and other (excluding cement). | £2,838 | £650 | 20025 | Schedule 26: Coating road stone with bitumen (REGISTRATION) | £659 (Band 7) |
£650 |
| 11790 | PPC B: 3.5(e) and/or (g) - Coating and other (excluding cement). | £2,838 | £650 | 20026 | Schedule 26: Coating road stone with tar or bitumen and production of artificial corundum (PERMIT) | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£650 |
| 11800 | PPC B: 3.1(a) - Cement batching, storing etc. | £2,838 | £650 | 20027 | Schedule 26: Blending or use of cement in bulk (REGISTRATION) | £659 (Band 7) |
£650 |
| 11800 | PPC B: 3.1(a) - Cement batching, storing etc. | £2,838 | £650 | 20028 | Schedule 26: Cement and cement clinker activities including storing, batching, blending, grinding, loading and unloading in bulk. (PERMIT) | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£650 |
| 11910 | PPC A: 6.3 - Distilling tar or bitumen. | £14,190 | £8,162 | 20029 | Schedule 26: Tar and bitumen processes. | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£1,086 |
| 11920 | PPC B: 6.3 - Tar and bitumen processes. | £2,838 | £1,086 | 20029 | Schedule 26: Tar and bitumen processes. | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£1,086 |
| 10170 | PPC A: Directly associated activity (operated by third party) as defined in Regulation 2 (1). | £0 | £2,496 | 20030 | Schedule 20 activity: Directly associated activity (operated by third party) as part of a schedule 20 installation as defined in Schedule 19 (3). | £659 (Band 7) |
£2,496 |
| 10180 | PPC A: Directly associated activity (operated by third party), as defined in Regulation 2(1), low risk. | £0 | £653 | 20031 | Schedule 20 activity: Directly associated activity or registration level activity (operated by third party), as part of a schedule 20 installation as defined in Schedule 19 (3), low risk. | £659 (Band 7) |
£653 |
| 10190 | PPC A: The operation by a third party of an activity described under Part B of Schedule 1 of the PPC regulations, as part of a Part A installation, Regulation 12(1). | £0 | £877 | 20032 | Schedule 20 activity: The operation by a third party of an activity described under Schedule 26 or 27 of EASR, as part of a schedule 20 installation, as defined Schedule 19 (3). | £2,838 (Band 10) |
£877 |
| 10200 | PPC A: The operation by a third party of part of a Part A activity installation. | £0 | £2,496 | 20033 | Schedule 20 activity: The operation by a third party of part of a Schedule 20 activity installation as defined Schedule 19 (3). | £14,190 (Band 14) |
£2,496 |
| 10450 | PPC B: 1.1 - Combustion of any fuel where thermal input is greater than or equal to 20 megawatts but less than 50 megawatts. | £659 | £823 | 20034 | Schedule 27 para 2: Medium combustion plant 20 to 50 MW subject to a bespoke permit | £1,703 (Band 9) |
£823 |