If you rear pigs or poultry, or both, you may need an environmental permit. You must apply for a bespoke environmental permit to rear pigs or poultry intensively in an installation if you have more than:

• 40,000 places for poultry
• 2,000 places for production pigs (over 30kg)
• 750 places for sows

Get advice from the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency’s pre-application advice service can give you free information on:

• which forms to use
• what guidance you must follow
• what supporting documents you may need to provide

It can also give you enhanced advice for more complex requests. This is a service you must pay for.

Find out how to get advice before you apply for an environmental permit.

Prepare your intensive farming permit application

Before you apply for an intensive farming permit, you must do all the following.

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You must begin by requesting an ammonia screening assessment from the Environment Agency before:

• applying for a new intensive farming permit
• applying to change (vary) an existing permit that could affect ammonia emissions

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Produce a written management system

You must produce a written management systemsystem. –This is a set of procedures that identifies and minimises the risks of pollution.

See guidance on what a management system must cover.cover.

Confirm your ability as an operator

Check you meet the legal operator and competent operator requirements. This includes:

• your technical competence
• your financial status
• any previous convictions for environmental offences

Do an environmental risk assessment

You must do an environmental risk assessment to check the potential effects of your installation on air, water, land and your neighbours.

See the guidance on how to do an intensive farming risk assessment.

Plan to avoid and control emissions to air, water and land

See the guidance on how you must design your installation to control and monitor emissions.

Plan to meet technical standards

You must meet best available techniques (BAT).

If you are applying for a new permit, or varying your permit, you will need to meet the the BAT conclusions conclusions for the intensive rearing of poultry or pigs. This applies to:

• a new sitesites with new animallivestock housing
• an existing sitesites expandingthat aboveare theexpanding, limitwhere andthe variation includes both existing and new animallivestock housing

Apply for your intensive farming permit

Download and fill in form part B3.5 – new bespoke intensive farm installation. The form’s guidance explains how to do this.

When you send your completed application form you must also include all the documents listed in the application checklist in section 15 of form part B3.5.

The form and its guidance explain where to send your form and how many copies to include.

Fees and charges

You must pay an application fee when you send your application. There are additional charges for checking some plans and assessments.

If your application is successful, the Environment Agency will charge you an annual ‘subsistence fee’.

See tables 1.14 and 1.19 in the environmental permitting charging scheme for the current charges.   

Form part B3.5 explains how you can pay.  

Consultations on permit applications

The Environment Agency consults on:

• bespoke permit applications
• other permit applications where it’s appropriate or in the public interest to do so

The Environment Agency will publish a notice of your application, instructions for how other people can comment on it and the application documents on the public register.

Members of the public and anyone interested in the application have 20 working days to comment.

The Environment Agency may also consult other public bodies, for example local authorities, UK Health Security Agency, water companies and Natural England.

If the Environment Agency considers your application to be of high public interest, they may:

• take longer to give you a decision
• carry out an extra consultation on the draft decision
• advertise the application more widely
• charge you more

Keeping sensitive information confidential

The Environment Agency will let people see the information in your application when they consult on it.

You can ask the Environment Agency not to make public any information that is commercially sensitive for your business (such as financial information). You can do this by including a letter with your application that gives your reasons why you do not want this information made public.

The Environment Agency will email or write to you within 20 days if they agree to your request. They will let you know if they need more time to decide.

If they do not agree to your request, they will tell you:

• how to appeal against the decision
• how to withdraw your application

After you apply

The Environment Agency may reject your application if, for example, you have:

• not used the right forms
• forgotten to include the fee or sent the wrong fee
• not provided important information

Examples of insufficient information include:

• the environmental risk assessment not identifying potential pollutants
• the management plan lacking enough detail

The information required is explained in the application form guidance. It depends on the type of application you are making.

Once the Environment Agency is satisfied they have the information and payment required to start assessing your application, they will contact you to tell you that your application is ‘duly made’. This means they are starting the assessment process.

If the Environment Agency needs any more information from you before your application can be duly made, they will either:

• contact you to request it if it seems you could provide the information within 10 working days
• return your application with a list of missing information to help you reapply

If the Environment Agency cannot progress your application past the duly made stage, they will return it to you. They may keep part of your application charge if they have spent time reviewing your application. This is explained in the environmental permitting charges guidance.

After an application is duly made, if the Environment Agency needs any more information from you, they will contact you to tell you what information you need to send.

Decisions about your permit

The Environment Agency will write to tell you their decision. The time this takes depends on:

• the complexity of the application
• whether they need to consult
• whether they need to ask you for more information so they can complete their assessment
• the number of applications they are dealing with

They usually make decisions on applications within:

• 4 months if you are applying for a new permit
• 3 months if you want to change a permit or cancel it
• 2 months if you want to transfer a permit

They will tell you if your application will take longer.

Appeal a decision

You can appeal if the Environment Agency refuses your application.

Examples of why they may refuse an application are:

• unacceptable environmental risk or damage to habitats or species
• insufficient evidence of operator competence
• inadequate management plans
• requests for information not being responded to
• the site not being in a satisfactory condition, if the application is to cancel (surrender) a permit

You can also appeal if you’ve applied for a bespoke permit and you’re not happy with the conditions.

The decision letter will explain how you can appeal.

The Environment Agency will publish the decision on the public register.

How to comply with your permit

When you get your permit, you must:

• keep to the conditions in your permit
• meet BAT standards

The guidance on how to comply with your intensive farm permit explains the requirements you must meet.

Find out how the Environment Agency will regulate you when you start operating.

Site inspections

Your farm will be inspected regularly to check you are complying with your permit. The frequency of inspections will be based on the environmental risk of your farm.

During an inspection, the assessor will:

• examine your documentation, including reviews and records
• check the installation
• write a report, including findings on compliance with the permit, actions to complete and the date they must be done by

Pig and Poultry Assurance Scheme

Once you’ve had 2 Environment Agency inspections, if you meet extra eligibility criteria you can join the Environment Agency’s Pig and Poultry Assurance Scheme.

If you join the scheme, you will be inspected once a year over a 3-year period. The Environment Agency will do one inspection and a certification body will do the other 2. Where possible, they will do this at the same time as other assurance scheme inspections such as Red Tractor.

Check the guidance on the Pig and Poultry Assurance Scheme for:

• how the scheme works
• who can join
• how to join
• how you’ll be inspected once you join

Change, transfer or cancel your permit

When you’ve got your permit, you can:

• change (vary) the details on it
• transfer it to someone else
• cancel (surrender) it

Find out how to change, transfer or cancel your permit.

Contact the Environment Agency