In this section you will find information on:
The CAR Practical Guide can be accessed here. This documents provides:
- a brief introduction to CAR;
- guidance on what activities are covered by each regime;
- revised levels of authorisation tables with explanatory notes;
and
- a description of the general binding rules (GBRs) for each
regime.
The Practical Guide replaces the CAR Levels of Authorisation document and will be the key reference document for SEPA staff and operators at the start of the new regulations.
The Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 gave Scottish Ministers powers to introduce regulatory controls over activities in order to protect and improve Scotland's water environment. That is, wetlands, rivers, lochs, transitional waters (estuaries and saline lagoons), coastal waters and water under the ground (groundwater).
The Act outlines SEPA’s duties to:
- protect and improve the water environment;
- promote efficient water use;
- have regard to the social and economic impacts of exercising its functions;
- act in the best way to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development;
- promote sustainable flood management; and
- co-ordinate the delivery of its functions with others
In fulfilling these duties, SEPA will regulate activities such as abstraction, impoundment and engineering activities, as well as pollution, from 1 April 2006 under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) Regulations 2005 (CAR).
The Policy Statement and Regulatory Impact Assessment associated with the new Regulations can be found here.
The Scottish Parliament approved the Regulations on 1 June 2005, setting in place a transitional period from 1 July 2005 until 31 March 2006. SEPA will begin processing applications from 1 October 2005.
From 1 April 2006, the following activities will be controlled:
- abstractions from surface and groundwater;
- impoundments of rivers, lochs, wetlands and transitional waters;
- groundwater recharge;
- engineering in rivers, lochs and wetlands;
- engineering activities in the vicinity of rivers, lochs and wetland which are likely to have a significant adverse impact upon the water environment;
- activities liable to cause pollution;
- direct or indirect discharge of List I substances to groundwater; and
- any other activities which directly or indirectly is liable to cause a significant adverse impact upon the water environment.
A more detailed description of the Controlled Activities Regulations can be found here.
For SEPA's current position on the scope of the Controlled Activities Regulations, click here.
For SEPA's interim enforcement policy in relation to the Controlled Activities Regulations, click here.
CAR structure
The CAR provide for three levels of authorisation over point source discharges, abstractions, impoundments and engineering activities. This allows for proportionate controls over such activities so that environmental protection can be provided whilst minimising the regulatory burden.
To determine which level of authorisation is likely to be required for an activity please refer to The CAR Practical Guide .This document is key in determining the application charge. Please be aware that the proposed charges, and the content of this document are subject to amendments following the recent charging scheme consultation, and therefore, the document is for indicative use only at this stage.
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General Binding Rules (GBRs) represent the simplest level of control. They cover specified activities and define conditions that provide the necessary level of environmental protection. So long as the activities are undertaken in compliance with the specified conditions, then the GBR provides the authorisation. The operator will not have to contact SEPA because these activities are considered to be very low risk.
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GBR’s provide statutory controls over the following low risk activities:
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- weirs less than 1metre high
- abstractions of less than 10m3/d
- construction of boreholes
- dredging of rivers less than 1 metre wide
- construction of minor bridges
- laying of pipeline or cable
- control of bank erosion covering less than 10m
- operating plan or machinery in the vicinity of water
- charge of surface water runoff which does not cause pollution of the water environment
- prohibition against the discharge of specified substances into a surface water drainage system.
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Registrations allow for the registration of small-scale activities which individually pose a small environmental risk but which cumulatively can result in environmental harm. Operators must apply to SEPA to register these activities. A registration is only valid so long as the water user complies with the application details. A registration will therefore include details of the scale of the activity and its location; and the authorisation is only valid so long as the activity is carried out within these constraints.
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Licences allow for site-specific conditions to be set to protect the water environment. A licence will be 'person'-specific in that it will require the identification of a 'responsible person' who will be responsible for ensuring that the terms of the licence are complied with. A responsible person can be an individual, a company or a partnership.
These licences will be more flexible than CoPA consents as they will be able to cover linked activities on a number of sites over a wide area as well as multiple activities on a single site. For example, a licence could cover the operation of the 5 reservoirs at the top of River Devon or 5 fish cage sites within a sea loch. The legislation also allows for licences to underpin management agreements between different operators - for example, farmers abstracting from a small river.
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If SEPA considers that a GBR or a registration will not provide sufficient environmental protection, SEPA will be able to require a higher level of control. For example, SEPA could require an activity which was covered by a GBR to be registered or even licensed.
The legislation will also allow SEPA to move an activity from a licence to a registration. Such an approach will minimise the regulatory burden to water users and allow the application of regulatory tools proportionate to the degree of environmental risk.
Presently, SEPA is developing the methods and procedures to deliver these regimes. When the information becomes available, it will be posted on this site.
Water Environment (Oil Storage) (Scotland) Regulations 2006
In addition to CAR, the Scottish Parliament has also introduced regulatory controls on the storage of oil under the Water Environment (Oil Storage) (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The Regulations came into force on the 1 April 2006 and include a transitional period for existing oil storage facilities. The storage of oil is a controlled activity and is deemed to be authorised (under a general binding rule) if it is carried on in accordance with the appropriate provisions of the Water Environment (Oil Storage) (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Further information on the Regulations can be found here.
