Track permits under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016, manage Part 2A contaminated land assessments, monitor discharge consents and maintain full audit trails - all while keeping your data GDPR-compliant.
The UK operates one of the most comprehensive environmental regulatory systems in the world. Whether you hold environmental permits, manage contaminated land or operate COMAH sites, compliance obligations are extensive and penalties for non-compliance are severe.
The EPR 2016 consolidates previous permitting regimes into a single framework covering waste operations, installations, water discharge activities, groundwater activities and mining waste operations. Every regulated facility in England and Wales needs an environmental permit from the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales.
Part 2A establishes the contaminated land regime in England and Wales. Local authorities must inspect their areas to identify contaminated land, and the "suitable for use" approach means assessment depends on the current or intended use of the site. The polluter-pays principle applies, with liability falling on the "appropriate person" responsible for contamination.
The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 apply to establishments holding dangerous substances above specified thresholds. Upper-tier sites must prepare safety reports and emergency plans, while lower-tier sites need Major Accident Prevention Policies. The competent authority (HSE and Environment Agency jointly) enforces compliance through inspections and enforcement notices.
The Environment Agency (EA) is the principal environmental regulator in England, responsible for issuing environmental permits, monitoring compliance and enforcing environmental law. Operators must demonstrate ongoing compliance through regular monitoring, record-keeping and reporting. Failure to comply with permit conditions can result in enforcement notices, suspension or revocation of permits, prosecution and unlimited fines.
The EA conducts risk-based inspections using the Compliance Classification Scheme (CCS). Every permitted site receives a compliance band rating based on the number and severity of breaches detected. Sites with poor compliance ratings face more frequent inspections and higher subsistence charges, making proactive compliance management both a legal and financial imperative.
Key obligations include maintaining monitoring data in an accessible format, submitting annual returns by specified deadlines, reporting incidents within 24 hours and keeping records of waste transfers under the duty of care regime. EnviroLog centralises all of these requirements into a single platform, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Since 2010, the EA has had the power to impose civil sanctions as an alternative to criminal prosecution. These include compliance notices, restoration notices, variable monetary penalties (VMPs) up to an unlimited amount and enforcement undertakings. The EA published its enforcement and sanctions policy in 2019, making clear that it will use its full range of enforcement tools against non-compliant operators. A well-documented compliance history - the kind EnviroLog creates automatically - is your strongest defence in any enforcement action.
EnviroLog was designed to handle multi-jurisdictional environmental compliance. Here is how it maps to UK-specific regulatory requirements.
Track all your environmental permits in one dashboard - EPR permits, water discharge consents, abstraction licences and waste exemptions. Set up automated reminders for permit renewal dates, annual return deadlines and monitoring submission windows. Every permit condition is logged against its compliance status so you can see at a glance which obligations are met and which need attention.
Manage the full lifecycle of contaminated land assessments under Part 2A and the planning regime (NPPF). Log site investigation data, compare lab results against UK Soil Guideline Values (SGVs) and Category 4 Screening Levels (C4SLs), and generate risk assessment reports. The platform supports the source-pathway-receptor model required for UK contaminated land assessments and tracks remediation progress through to verification.
Monitor water discharge consents and trade effluent permits with automated threshold alerts. Log sampling results for BOD, suspended solids, ammonia, pH and other determinands required by your permit. EnviroLog flags any exceedance immediately and generates the incident reports required for EA notification within 24 hours. Track upstream and downstream monitoring points with GPS coordinates and historical trend analysis.
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 Section 34 imposes a duty of care on anyone who produces, imports, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste. EnviroLog tracks waste transfer notes (retained for the required 2 years, or 3 years for hazardous waste consignment notes), carrier registrations and disposal site permits. The platform generates waste transfer documentation that meets the requirements of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.
The UK uses a tiered approach to contaminated land assessment. Soil Guideline Values (SGVs), published by the Environment Agency, provide scientifically based generic assessment criteria for individual contaminants. These are complemented by Category 4 Screening Levels (C4SLs), introduced by Defra in 2014, which define levels of contamination below which land is considered to pose no significant possibility of significant harm.
For consultants and site owners conducting Part 2A assessments or planning-led investigations under the NPPF, comparing laboratory results against these values is a critical first step. EnviroLog integrates UK SGVs and C4SLs directly into its lab result analysis module, automatically flagging exceedances and generating the comparison tables required for risk assessment reports.
Published SGVs cover arsenic, cadmium, chromium (VI), lead, mercury, nickel, selenium and inorganic cyanide for residential and commercial land uses. C4SLs have been published for arsenic, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, cadmium, chromium (VI), lead, mercury and PFOS. Where no SGV or C4SL exists, practitioners typically use Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC) from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) or Land Quality Management (LQM).
Use our free Contamination Threshold Lookup Tool to cross-reference UK SGVs and C4SLs against standards from other jurisdictions including Canada (CCME, BC CSR), the US (EPA RSLs), Australia (NEPM HILs) and the Netherlands (Dutch Intervention Values).
UK Soil Guideline Values apply in two primary contexts. First, under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities use SGVs and C4SLs when determining whether land meets the legal definition of "contaminated land." Second, under the planning regime, developers must demonstrate that proposed developments are suitable for their intended use, with contamination assessment guided by the NPPF and BS 10175:2011+A2:2017 (Investigation of Potentially Contaminated Sites - Code of Practice).
The choice of assessment criteria depends on the land use scenario: residential with home-grown produce, residential without home-grown produce, allotments, commercial or public open space. EnviroLog lets you select the appropriate land use scenario for each site and automatically applies the correct screening values across all logged contaminants.
Environmental monitoring data often includes personal data - site owner details, employee exposure records, consultant contact information. EnviroLog is built with GDPR compliance from the ground up.
EnviroLog only collects and retains the data necessary for compliance purposes. Access controls ensure personnel only see data relevant to their role, following the principle of least privilege required by Article 5(1)(c) of the UK GDPR.
All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Role-based access controls, audit logging of all data access events and session management meet the "appropriate technical and organisational measures" standard under Article 32.
Export your complete dataset at any time in standard formats (CSV, PDF). When data subjects exercise their right to erasure under Article 17, EnviroLog supports granular deletion while maintaining the integrity of compliance records that must be retained under environmental law.
For large-scale projects in England and Wales, the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 require an Environmental Impact Assessment for Schedule 1 developments (mandatory EIA) and Schedule 2 developments (screening required). EnviroLog helps EIA practitioners track mitigation commitments from Environmental Statements, monitor compliance with planning conditions and maintain the monitoring data that planning authorities increasingly require as part of EIA follow-up programmes.
Industrial installations regulated under the Industrial Emissions Directive (as transposed into UK law through the EPR 2016) must apply Best Available Techniques (BAT). BAT Reference Documents (BREFs) set emission levels and monitoring requirements that permitted sites must meet. EnviroLog tracks your installation's performance against BAT-Associated Emission Levels (BAT-AELs), flagging any readings that approach or exceed permitted thresholds before they become compliance breaches.
While the core regulatory principles are similar across the UK, Scotland (regulated by SEPA) and Northern Ireland (regulated by NIEA) have their own regulatory instruments. EnviroLog supports multi-jurisdiction operations, allowing you to track compliance against the Contaminated Land (Scotland) Regulations 2000, the Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2011 and the corresponding Northern Ireland regulations alongside your English and Welsh permits.
EnviroLog is priced in Canadian Dollars and converted to GBP at current exchange rates. The approximate GBP equivalent is shown above based on typical CAD/GBP rates. Your invoice will show the exact CAD amount and your payment provider handles the conversion.
Join environmental consultants, site operators and waste management companies across the UK who use EnviroLog to stay compliant, reduce risk and save time on regulatory paperwork.