Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018: Proposed changes to the Charging Scheme
3.2. New applications for multi-activity authorisations
Our current charging scheme discounts multiple activities regulated under one authorisation. This discount can apply if the activities are in the same geographical location or are located in different locations but connected, for example, a sewer network permit (see rule 8, (3)(a) of the current charging scheme). The discount is given as it recognises that there are efficiency savings to the assessment and ongoing regulation of the activities.
We will continue to apply this discount under the existing rules of our current charging scheme, but for a period after the implementation of the Regulations, we will only accept applications for activities at multiple locations where they are inter-connected. While we can foresee potential efficiency savings for operators for these ‘Corporate Permits’, it would require us to develop new charging systems and carefully consider how we recover our costs. We may review this as part of a wider review of our charging scheme, and we are interested in stakeholders’ views on whether the development of a Corporate Permit would be desirable.