Newsroom | Releases/Statements | Archive | 1997 | 'Polluter Pays Paper Out To Consultation'

Polluter Pays Paper Out to Consultation
Issued on 15 August 1997

Environmental improvement has been brought to the top of the agenda today as a new paper is put out to public consultation by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

SEPA is confident its new unified Annual Charges Scheme and Scheme of Application Charges under the Control of Pollution Act (CoPA) 1974, will provide a level playing field based on the polluter pays principle - those who pay more will be those whose discharges have greatest potential to pollute.

Under Part II of CoPA, the Agency is responsible for regulating discharges to controlled waters. The agency grants consents or instruments for discharges of effluent or other matter. It services those consents and has powers to sample streams or effluents. Charges for these consents were made by the former river purification authorities, brought under the SEPA umbrella on April 1 1996.

"The Scheme of Application Charges extends the reduced fee category to a larger proportion of less significant discharges of trade effluent which pose minimal threat to the aquatic environment,’" said Colin Bayes, SEPA Head of Water Policy.

"The proposed Scheme of Annual Charges will establish a uniform and equitable basis for future charges,’ he added. "This will take into account the scale and potential environmental impact of discharges, and will apply to all the discharges which are subject to monitoring by SEPA."

Before the Secretary of State makes a decision, SEPA must give people likely to be affected by the proposals an opportunity to comment. A six week period of consultation will begin today (15 August 1997).

ENDS

Notes for Editors

1. Comments on the consultation paper should be sent to Mr Ian McDougall, The Scottish Office, Agriculture, Environment & Fisheries Department, Environmental Protection Unit Area 1J, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ.

2. There are two proposed charging schemes:

A scheme of charges payable when applying for new consents to discharge to the environment, or for modifications to existing consents. There are two fixed charges -a standard application charge of £525, and a reduced application charge of £75. The reduction is applied to smaller, less harmful discharges (as detailed in the consultation document).

A scheme of annual charges for existing consents. These charges are worked out by calculating the product of four factors: Volume factor times Content factor times Receiving waters factor times Financial factor.

3. Example of an Annual Charge

A small cage fish farm on the coast, which has a consented biomass of 150 tonnes and uses hydrogen peroxide for pest control, would fall into volume band V1 and contents band C. Multiplying the numeric factors associated with each band with the financial factor, produces an Annual Charge of £297 for the year 1988/89.

4. Each of the ten former river purification authorities in Scotland operated the same scheme, but there were differences in the way the scheme was applied, and the unit costs their clients were asked to pay varied from authority to authority. SEPA wishes to provide a ‘level playing field’ - uniform and equitable schemes which are applied fairly and consistently across Scotland. Also, the old schemes brought in only £2.9m, (about 30% of the full costs) and SEPA’s is charged with achieving full cost recovery.

5. Copies of the consultation paper are available from SEPA Public Affairs, Erskine Court, The Castle Business Park, Stirling FK9 4TR. Tel 01786 457700; Fax 01786 446885.

SEPA Press Office contacts

Press Officer: Maggie Hamilton. Tel: 01786 457724
Head of Public Affairs: Monica Straughan. Tel: 01786 457723 Mobile 0421 942498

SEPA Head Office, Erskine Court, The Castle Business Park, STIRLING FK9 4TR
Tel: 01786 457700 Fax: 01786 448040