Apply for a standard rules permit for waste operations

Standard rules and risk assessments

For each facility there is a set of rules, guidance on how to comply with the rules and a risk assessment.

Before you apply

Applying for a standard permit saves you time and money. However, before you decide to apply you need to be aware of some important characteristics:

• You cannot vary the rules and you have no right of appeal against them
• If you want to change your operations so that a standard permit no longer works for your operation you will have to apply to change your permit to make it bespoke instead
• If there is a change in your local environment after your permit has been issued (for example due to a change in the definition of a groundwater source protection zone), you may need to upgrade the operation to a standard sufficient for the changed environment, or apply to change to a bespoke permit
• For standard permit discharges to surface waters, the annual subsistence charge will start from the date the permit is issued. We recommended that you do not apply for a standard permit significantly ahead of when it is required unless you accept payment of these charges. There are currently no standard rules permits for sewage effluent to ground/groundwater
• You should check if we are due to make any changes to the rules before you apply to make sure you will still be able to meet them when the changes are published.  If not, you should consider applying for a bespoke permit

Make sure you understand the standard rules set, that it describes exactly what you want to do and that you will be able to meet the requirements of the rules.

If you cannot comply with any of the standard rules, you must apply for a bespoke permit.

We may place limits on the proximity of your activity to nature conservation sites or specify whether any point source emissions are allowed.

Changes to standard rule permits from October 2018

Rule sets SR2009 No4, SR2012 No10 and SR2012 No12, have been removed for new applicants. If you currently hold one of these rule sets, please contact your site compliance officer for more information.

Application forms

Look at our How to apply for an environmental permit page before you apply, for up-to-date information on the application process.

When opening the forms, you may need to click 'Save and Open', then 'View, Edit document' or 'Enable content'. Look at our How to apply for an environmental permit page for more information on using our application forms.

Once you have selected the right parts of the form you only need to fill in the sections of that form which are relevant to your application.

Part A

Application form Part A - About you

Guidance notes Part A - How to complete Part A of our application form

Part B

Application Form Part B1 - Apply for a standard facilities permit

Guidance notes Part B1 - How to complete Part B1 of our application form

Part F

Application Form Part F1 - Opra, charges and declarations

Guidance notes Part F1 - How to complete Part F1 of our application form

Mobile plant permits

If you want to carry out mobile plant activities, such as landspreading, you must have an approved deployment as well as a suitable permit. 

Find out how to apply for mobile plant deployment.

Find out more about the scope of mobile plant in Regulatory Guidance Note 2: Understanding the mearing of regulated facility (appendix 4) on GOV.UK.

How to pay

You can pay for your permit application in the following ways:

Call us on 0300 065 3000 between 9 and 5, Monday to Friday.

or

by BACS transfer to: 

Company name: Natural Resources Wales
Company address: Income Department, PO Box 663, Cardiff, CF24 0TP
Bank: RBS
Address: National Westminster Bank Plc., 2 1/2 Devonshire Square, London, EC2M 4BA
Sort code: 60-70-80
Account number: 10014438

Fees and charges

Read more about fees and charges in our environmental permitting charging scheme.

Help with your application

Contact general enquiries by email enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk or call 0300 065 3000

Timescales

We'll determine your application as soon as is practically possible. If your application for a permit is more complex because of other legislation or planning constraints, or we have particular concerns about the proposal then we may need to agree a different timescale with you.