If you hold an environmental permit, you’re required to operate in line with the Best Available Techniques (BAT) set for your sector, and to keep operating in line with them as those standards are revised. Regulation 61 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 allows your regulatory body to request evidence that you’re still compliant, and BAT conclusions are reviewed and updated periodically as techniques and thresholds evolve.
Our consultants assess your operations against the current BAT conclusions and BRef documents for your sector, identify any gaps, and prepare the evidence you need to demonstrate compliance, whether that’s in response to a formal Regulation 61 notice or as part of your own compliance review.
What is a Regulation 61 BAT assessment?
A Regulation 61 BAT assessment checks that your business or installation is compliant with the revised BAT conclusions from the relevant BRef documents, under Regulation 61 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.
BAT stands for “Best Available Technique”. Best Available Techniques means the available techniques that are the best for preventing or minimising emissions and impacts on the environment. If you hold an environmental permit, you should be adhering to the Best Available Techniques for your installation or activities, and staying familiar with the current BRef standards for your sector.
How a Regulation 61 notice works
As part of Regulation 61, you may receive a notice from the regulator requiring more information about your installation or activities, to demonstrate that you’re adhering to the Best Available Technique Conclusions and therefore complying with your environmental permit. We can help with this, from reviewing the notice through to preparing your response.
The most effective way of responding is to provide detailed information and maintain clear communication with the regulator. Operators with environmental permits should follow BAT in day-to-day operation and keep pace with the latest standards.
Why a regular review matters
Anyone holding an environmental permit should carry out a compliance assessment or review from time to time, to confirm they’re compliant with the revised sector BRef documents and therefore their permit. This is increasingly what regulatory bodies expect as standard practice, rather than waiting for a formal request for information. Responding early, accurately, and with clear communication is usually the most effective way to deal with a notice and meet regulatory expectations.
Our team can also use environmental management systems, risk assessments, and permit reviews to identify compliance gaps and confirm whether appropriate measures or additional measures are needed to achieve the right environmental outcome.
What to expect from a BAT assessment
We familiarise you with the current BRef standards and how they inform permit benchmarks, broken down into simple steps, so you’re clear on the documents and evidence needed to show compliance.
Our process includes:
- Meetings with an experienced consultant and a breakdown of how well you’re managing compliance
- BRef requirements explained in plain terms, with jargon broken down
- Guidance and template documents for the evidence you need to prepare
- Review of your completed documentation by an experienced consultant
- Follow-up meetings and reviews to make sure your compliance evidence holds up to scrutiny, using risk assessments to identify gaps and confirm whether additional or other appropriate measures are needed
Reviewing your environmental permit against current BAT conclusions
We start by comparing your existing permit conditions and current operations against the BAT conclusions now in force for your sector. This highlights where your procedures already meet the standard, whether current technology on site aligns with the relevant BAT material, and where attention is needed, giving you a clear, evidence-based starting point rather than a guess at your compliance position.
From there, we can support you with:
- Reviewing process information, drainage, infrastructure, and operational data to understand environmental risk and identify gaps in monitoring or control
- Preparing the documents needed for your Regulation 61 response, including material that can support a wider permit application where BAT evidence is required
- Assessing specific issues relevant to your BAT position and permit obligations
- Working with your consultant or internal team to check evidence and challenge assumptions as you prepare your position
Identifying environmental risk gaps and planning implementation
Where a gap exists between your current operations and the revised BAT conclusions, we help you work out what’s needed to close it. This comparison helps identify environmental risk through risk assessments, and any compliance gaps against permit requirements. This might mean checking whether your permit sets appropriate emission limit values, confirming appropriate measures are in place, considering additional measures where needed, updating a management plan, or revising monitoring arrangements, and we help you build a realistic plan for putting those changes into practice.
Preparing evidence and liaising with your regulator
Once gaps are identified, we assess them using risk assessments to decide what additional measures or appropriate measures are needed, then help operators pull together the detailed information their regulator expects to see, in the format they expect it. Where useful, we can also support responding to a formal request and liaison with your regulator, so the submission reflects what’s actually been asked for and avoids unnecessary back-and-forth through clear communication.
Key benefits of a BAT assessment
- Confirms your compliance by providing detailed information in response to any formal request from your regulator
- Reduces the risk of being found in breach of your permit
- Saves time, as we translate BAT conclusions and documentation requirements into plain, workable steps, and clear communication helps operators deal with follow-up points more efficiently
- Access to our consultants on a one-to-one basis, so you have early support in preparing your evidence approach
