If your business no longer carries out the activity covered by your environmental permit, you may need to formally surrender it – simply stopping the activity isn’t enough on its own. Getting a surrender wrong, or surrendering when a variation would have done the job, can create unnecessary cost and delay.
Our consultants guide you through the surrender process, working out which type applies to your situation and liaising with the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales or your local council on your behalf.
Types of permit surrender
Environment Agency surrender applications fall into a few categories:
- Full surrender – where you’re stopping the entire permitted activity.
- Low risk surrender – a simplified route for sites that pose minimal risk of remaining contamination or environmental impact.
- Partial surrender – where you’re stopping only part of the activity covered by your permit.
- Partial surrender with variation – where stopping part of the activity also means the remaining permit needs to be varied.
We’ll confirm which route applies before you apply, since choosing the wrong one can add time to the process.
In some cases, changes to your business don’t require a surrender at all. If you want to transfer your permit from one legal entity to another, or add or remove activities from it, our Permit Variation service can guide you through that instead – we’ll talk through the options so you make the right choice for your organisation.
Key benefits of our Surrendering Permits service
- Meets the legal and technical standards required for surrender
- Reduces the risk of rejection or delay
- Confirms whether surrender is the right choice, rather than a variation
- Direct liaison with the regulator on your behalf
