Environment Agency charge proposal: cost of service

Overview

The Environment Agency provides a wide range of services that are fundamental to how we protect the environment. These include flood and coastal erosion risk management, regulation of water quality and abstraction, pollution prevention and the regulation of waste and radioactive substances.

As a public body carrying out a regulatory service we must follow HM Treasury guidance in managing public money  which requires us to fully recover the cost of our service. With the increase in costs of delivering these services and inflationary pressures we have reviewed most of our regulatory charges in:

• The Environment Agency (Environmental Permitting and Abstraction Licensing) (England) Charging Scheme 2022 
• The Waste (Miscellaneous)(England) Charging Scheme 2018 

This consultation proposes an increase to these charges to accommodate the rise in the cost of our service, so we can continue to fully recover our costs. 

About this consultation

We took this consultation offline for 5 minutes on 23 April 2025 to make the following corrections:

• table1 – we have included charge category 2.16.23 to 2.16.25 (waste transfer and treatment – mobile plant)
• table 3 and 5 -  we have moved charge category 2.15.1 to 2.15.4 (land spreading subsistence activity charge only) from charge description ‘installations’ to ‘waste installations’

The consultation includes:

• this consultation document
• response form (an alternative form when not responding to the consultation online)

The documents are available in the 'related' section at the bottom of this page.

Why your views matter

We would like you to share your views on the proposed increase to charges to accomodate the rise in the cost of our services. We welcome your feedback as it helps us to understand the impact of our proposals and make an informed decision.

Consultation principles

We are running this consultation in line with the guidance set out in the government’s consultation principles. If you believe this consultation has not be run in accordance with these principles, please email consultation.enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Otherwise, for all other queries or complaints relating to this consultation please email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk