Under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 operators of industrial installations require a permit to operate and must submit a detailed application. Salford City Council is required to either grant or refuse the permit application. Once Salford City Council approves an application a permit will be granted to the person or company that has applied to operate the installation.
Operators must use the Best Available Techniques (BAT) to control pollution from their industrial activities. The aim of BAT is to prevent pollution, or where it is not possible, to reduce pollution to acceptable levels.
The permit issued by Salford City Council will contain conditions on emission limits and controls, including the monitoring, maintenance and repair of equipment designed to destroy or capture emissions. Once the permit is issued the operator is then legally required to operate their industrial installation to the standard required by the conditions of the permit.
Salford City Council will carry out inspections to help ensure that installations apply and maintain the standards of control as detailed in their permit conditions. Many businesses view the word ‘enforcement' in terms of prosecution or some other form of financial penalty. However enforcement has a far wider meaning: education; provision of advice; information; permitting; securing compliance with statutory requirements and finally the use of statutory enforcement powers.
The Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) first introduced a risk-based charging scheme for operators of installations in 2004. This allowed the council to determine annually the subsistence fee and the inspection frequency for each installation based on their level of risk. The risk assessment is based upon both the operation of the installation and the way in which pollution risk is managed.
The overall risk assessment score determines the risk category; high, medium or low risk. For a high risk installation, dependant on their size, will receive up to three inspections per year. For a medium risk installation, dependant on their size, will receive up to two inspections per year. For a low risk, dependant on their size, will receive up to one inspection per year.