Issuing of permits
The Environment Agency’s Permit Support Centre is a national service that deals with permit enquiries from the public.
The centre also checks, logs, registers, records and determines:
- all complex exemptions
- all waste management licences
- water quality, water discharge, land remediation, fracking and radioactive sources registration for the country.
Why is this important?
The PSC prepares and issues the permits that set the conditions and controls that potentially polluting industries must meet in order not to affect people and the environment. For many customers, it is one of the public faces of the organisation.
Where the cuts may fall
Cuts appear inevitable since much of this is seen as “back office”, though the scale of them is not yet known. At best customers will see a reduced standard of service. At worst, the agency risks losing key data and an understanding of how human intervention with key parts of the environment is functioning.