Get advice before you apply for an environmental permit
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-30)

You can use the pre-application advice service to make sure your permit application is correct.

Before you apply for an environmental permit, you can request advice from the Environment Agency’s pre-application advice service.

The Environment Agency can give you free basic advice and information on whether your activity may have an impact on:
- heritage and nature conservation sites
- protected species and habitats
It can also give you enhanced advice for more complex requests – this is a service you pay for.

When requesting advice, you need to provide enough information about your proposals and their location so the Environment Agency can understand them. Pre-application advice will be limited to the questions that you ask. Consider what advice you need and ask specific, targeted questions rather than broad requests.

The Environment Agency will not confirm if a proposal is suitable or likely to be approved.

Basic advice

You can get free basic pre-application advice on:
- the type of permit you need, for example, if it’s a standard rules permit, a mobile plant permit (for waste activities), or a bespoke permit
- which application forms you should use
- what guidance you must follow
- the correct application charge
- if there are standard rules relevant to your activities and if you meet the criteria for them
- risk assessments you may need to complete and send with your application
- the administrative tasks the Environment Agency may need you to do as part of your application
- whether ammonia from your intensive farm impacts the environment
Enhanced (paid-for) advice

If you need more in-depth advice, the Environment Agency offers an enhanced pre-application advice service. As well as the information you can get through the free basic pre-application service, this could cover advice on:
- complex modelling
- preparing risk assessments
- specific substance assessments
- monitoring requirements (including baseline)
- complex application charge questions
- parallel tracking for complex permits with planning applications
- public engagement plans for high public interest applications
- requirements of nationally significant infrastructure projects
- how to get agreement to send your application information in stages (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/send-environmental-permit-application-information-in-stages) if your application is complex or uses novel technologies
The Environment Agency will tell you what kind of advice they can give you after you request help.

How much it costs

The enhanced service costs £100 an hour plus VAT.

Most requests are completed in 10 hours or less (£1000 plus VAT) and many in 5 hours or less (£500 plus VAT). Only a small number of requests take longer than 20 hours (£2000 plus VAT). In these cases, the Environment Agency will contact you to agree a maximum cost to you.

When you will receive a cost estimate

For radioactive sources or substances activities you will get a written estimate before work starts, including:
- a list of work to be carried out
- how much it will cost
- when you will be charged
If you (or someone else on your behalf) send new information related to your request, the Environment Agency may need to revise the estimate. They will write to you to agree any changes to the scope and cost.

For all other activities (installation, waste or water quality) the Environment Agency does not usually provide cost estimates. Instead, they ask that you pay for up to 20 hours of work. You will only be charged for the time it takes to complete the request.

You can request a cost estimate, but this will cause a delay in receiving the advice. This is because we cannot provide the advice until the cost estimate is agreed. You will not have to pay more for a cost estimate.

What the service cannot help with

The pre-application advice service cannot provide you with written confirmation that you:
- do not need a permit
- meet the general binding rules for discharges of waste water to surface water (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/general-binding-rules-small-sewage-discharge-to-a-surface-water) or ground (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/general-binding-rules-small-sewage-discharge-to-the-ground)
The service also cannot confirm that all or part of your permit application will be acceptable before you have applied. The service is unable to provide final emissions limits or agreements on the conclusions of modelling or risk assessments.

Before you contact the service

First, check if you need an environmental permit (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-an-environmental-permit) for your activity.

Many common questions about permits are answered in the guidance on environmental permits (https://www.gov.uk/search/guidance-and-regulation?parent=%2Fenvironment%2Fenvironmental-permits&topic=4e561949-4a26-49c2-918d-6ad2972c4d33). Check this before you contact the service. If your question is answered in this guidance, the service will ask you to read this instead.

If you still have questions after reading the guidance and receiving advice, you can ask for enhanced pre-application advice.

Before you make your request, you should gather:
- your details, including company number (if you have one) and site address
- the 12-figure National Grid reference (such as ST xx-xxxx-xxxx) for the centre of your site, or for the locations where you intend to release (discharge) waste water – check this using using the Ordnance Survey website (https://explore.osmaps.com/)
- invoice details if you want enhanced advice
- a reference number if your question relates to an existing permit or pre-application query
- digital copies of your site plans.
If your request is about with discharging waste water

You will also need to state in your request:
- what you want to discharge – find out if it is classed as domestic sewage (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-sewage-discharges-to-surface-water-and-groundwater/domestic-sewage-discharges-to-surface-water-and-groundwater)
- what treatment system you have or will have – find out if it is a septic tank, sewage treatment plant or something else (https://www.gov.uk/permits-you-need-for-septic-tanks)
- if your treatment system meets the relevant British Standards – check the guidance if you intend to discharge to a surface water (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/general-binding-rules-small-sewage-discharge-to-a-surface-water) (such as a river, stream, estuary, lake, canal or coastal water) or the ground (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/general-binding-rules-small-sewage-discharge-to-the-ground)
- the largest volume you are likely to discharge – calculate this using either the sewage discharges calculator for domestic properties (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sewage-discharges-calculator-for-domestic-properties) or British Water’s Flows and Loads (https://www.britishwater.co.uk/page/Publications) guidance
- if the discharge is going to a surface water or into the ground – if going to a surface water, find out whether the watercourse dries up at any point in the year, and if going to a lake or pond, find out whether they are connected to another surface water or to the ground
The pre-application service will not be able to help if you do not know the answers to these questions. You can contact a drainage engineer or consultant for advice.

Contact the pre-application advice service

Fill in the form that’s most appropriate to your main activity:
- discharges to surface water or the ground (https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/EANPSWQ/) – for example, if you are a householder or business with a septic tank, sewage treatment plant or treatment plant, if you are dewatering effluent from excavations as part of construction, for burial of human remains, or if you are from a water company or a new appointment and variation (NAV) registered by Ofwat
- water resources activities (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-advice-before-you-apply-for-a-water-abstraction-or-impounding-licence) – for taking water from a river, pond, lake or ground
- flood risk management activities (https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/8ILLCT/)
- waste activities (https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/QOF860/) – for using, treating, storing or disposing of waste or mining waste
- installation activities (https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ULR36Z/) – for large scale use, treatment, storage or disposal of waste, industrial process, medium combustion plant and specified generators, intensive farming, manufacturing or any other business that produces potentially harmful substances
- radioactive sources or substances activities (https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/748WQW/)
If you carry out more than one of these activities at your site, making them one facility, then select the form for your main activity. You can get pre-application advice for all aspects of your facility.

If your operations are separate and not part of the same facility, you should ask for advice for each activity separately using the relevant forms.

If your project is large or complex

If your project requires multiple permits or licences, you can pay for a coordination service that manages advice across your whole proposal.

Check how to request environmental permit coordination for major projects (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-environmental-permit-coordination-for-major-projects).

What you will get

If you request basic advice, you will get a response within 20 working days (Monday to Friday). If you need enhanced advice, it is likely to take longer.

If the service can help, you will get the information by email.

If you cannot use the forms

If you cannot use or access the form you need, please contact the Environment Agency (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency#org-contacts).