Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is seeking views on proposed reforms to environmental permitting for industry. It covers the permitting of ‘industrial’ activities under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPRs), which are taken to include installations, medium combustion plant and specified generators, small waste incineration plant, solvent emission activities, Part B mobile plant and mobile medium combustion plant. The consultation does not cover waste operations, mining waste operations, radioactive substances activities, water discharge activities, groundwater activities or flood risk activities.
This consultation is for England only, however, the devolved governments have been engaged during the preparation of the consultation and Defra intends to continue working closely with them in further developing the policy options outlined in this document. Defra is seeking views from the businesses and sectors in scope of these reforms as well as wider organisations and individuals across civil society, local government and academia.
Consultation closes 21 October 2025. Further details are available here.