Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Environment definition

What does Environment mean? In legal practice, environment refers to the natural media and the living systems potentially affected by a project, operation or emission. UK environmental legislation commonly defines it as including air, water and land, and any living organisms (including humans) and ecosystems supported by those media. Similar formulations are used across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and in Irish environmental legislation; exact wording varies by statute and context, but usage is broadly consistent. Where a regime provides a definition, courts apply that text; where it does not, the term carries its ordinary meaning. The concept sets the scope of regulatory...

Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016: permit determinations, public participation, operator competence, conditions and surrender; appeals procedure, time limits, hearings/inquiries, costs and judicial review

Published by a LexisNexis Environment expert

Practice notes

Environmental permitting

Environmental permitting sits among the principal Environmental regulatory frameworks in the UK. Its purpose is to manage pollution and relEAses to the environment from industrial and other operations. As a cornerstone of UK business regulation, it seeks to control activities that could contaminate the environment or endanger human health. Environmental permits set a suite of conditions for the design, operation and eventual decommissioning of a regulated installation, and prescribe how regulated activities must be undertaken. This Practice Note reviews the process for deciding whether to issue an environmental permit under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR 2016), SI 2016/1154, and the conditions to be attached. It also explains the procedure for appealing a decision. EPR 2016 establish a single, unified permitting system for facilities and activities. They combined and revoked the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (EPR 2010), SI 2010/675, which had been amended many times. They are regularly amended and updated. The principal regulators are the Environment Agency (EA) in England, the Natural Resources Body for Wales (NRW), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the...

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Craig Burman

Schofield Sweeney

Craig is a director and head of Schofield Sweeney’s Environmental and Regulatory team. He qualified as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand and practiced in a broad mixture of contentious litigation matters before moving to the UK in 2001. Between 2008 and 2015 Craig worked in house at the Environment Agency, including as Principal Solicitor for Enforcement and Prosecutions (Yorkshire and North East), and then Regional Solicitor (Yorkshire and North East), before being appointed as the Senior Managing Lawyer of the national Enforcement and Prosecutions team. Craig advises on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious environmental matters including waste, water pollution, air pollution, packaging waste, environmental permit compliance, fisheries offences, noise and odour, drainage and flooding, contaminated land, REACH compliance, fracking and agricultural matters. Craig advises on a wide range of other regulatory compliance matters and acts for a number of...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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