Environmental Permit Surrender

Once you’ve got your Environmental Permit, you can’t just walk away from the site. Selling your business means that the permit must be transferred to the new owners, and if you want to close, the permit must be surrendered to the relevant environment agency (EA, SEPA, NIEA, EAW), or in the case of Part A2 or B permits, your local authority.

Permit surrender for a Part A1 or A2 site involves:

• decommissioning the site so that pollution risks are prevented;
• documenting that decommissioning and waste disposal has taken place correctly;
• producing a Surrender Site report to demonstrate the land condition at permit surrender is “satisfactory”. This can range from a desktop report; or include soil and groundwater testing to demonstrate condition; or involve the remediation of any significant land pollution caused during the permit lifetime.

It is very important that you and any consultants you use speak to the environment agency or local authority early in the process to discuss what approach you will take for the site report.  As the site surrender process continues, good communication of any report findings can help the project run smoothly.  The regulators can often help with technical advice on ground investigation and remediation, and it helps them plan their workload if you let them know when to expect your site report.

TT Environmental Ltd have a successful track record in permit surrender under both the previous IPPC regime and Environmental Permit.

If you have any queries about site surrender, ground investigation, or remediation under Permit, contact Janet on 01422 24 22 22 to discuss, or email Janet.

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