Lillyhall Landfill Site Transboundary Impact Assessment

Overview

This consultation is for the Transboundary Impact Assessment submitted by FCC Recycling (UK) Ltd as part of their application to vary their radioactive substances activity permit for the Lillyhall Landfill site in West Cumbria.

That application was submitted to us in February 2019 and we consulted on it from 4 March 2019 to 6 May 2019. Details can be found here https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/cumbria-and-lancashire/lillyhall-landfill-site-rsa-permit-variation/

At that time applicants were required to make a separate Article 37 submission to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on behalf of the UK Government, providing data on radioactive waste disposal plans. BEIS would then submit this data to the European Commission (EC), in accordance with Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty. This data was used by the EC to assess the effects of planned disposals, including any discharges, as well as accidental discharges to air, soil and water, on member states of the European Union and Norway. The Environment Agency could not issue a new or varied environmental permit until the EC had provided an opinion on the potential transboundary radioactive effects. This is no longer a requirement now the UK has left the European Union.

However, for certain new environmental permit applications or applications to vary environmental permits we still need to consider if any planned discharges or disposals from these radioactive substances activities will have an environmental impact on member states of the European Union and Norway. These new requirements are set out in the Transboundary Radioactive Contamination (England) Direction 2020 (The Direction) and implemented through the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. The Direction gives a full list of relevant activities and explains when it is applicable. Where applicable, applicants are now required to submit a transboundary impact assessment to the Environment Agency, as part of the Environmental Permit application process. These assessments will have to be taken into consideration when we are deciding whether or not to grant those environmental permit applications.

This application by FCC Recycling (UK) Ltd falls within the scope of the Direction. Due to the fact that the original permit variation application was made and consulted upon before 1st January 2021, we are now consulting upon the transboundary impact assessment separately.

The Direction requires that we consult the public on any transboundary impact assessment. As part of this consultation we must inform the Secretary of State for BEIS and provide an electronic link to the public consultation. BEIS will inform relevant countries allowing them an opportunity to view the information and to comment on the application through the public consultation process. We will take responses received into account in our final decision on whether or not to grant the application to vary the permit.

Why your views matter

This consultation gives people the opportunity access the additional information provided to us by FCC Recycling (UK) Ltd to support their permit variation application, in accordance with The Transboundary Radioactive Contamination (England) Direction 2020. This consultation provides a route for people to provide us with any information they think is relevant to our decision making.

What happens next