Control of Pollution Act 1974

Part I — Waste on land

Waste disposal arrangements

General application to Scotland.

1

Waste disposal plans

Alteration of penalties.

2

Licensing of disposal of controlled waste.

Prohibition of unlicensed disposal of waste

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• (1) Except in prescribed cases, a person shall not—

• (a) deposit controlled waste on any land or cause or knowingly permit controlled waste to be deposited on any land; or

• (b) use any plant or equipment, or cause or knowingly permit any plant or equipment to be used, for the purpose of disposing of controlled waste or of dealing in a prescribed manner with controlled waste,

unless the land on which the waste is deposited or, as the case may be, which forms the site of the plant or equipment is occupied by the holder of a licence issued in pursuance of section 5 of this Act (in this Part of this Act referred to as a “disposal licence”) which authorises the deposit or use in question and the deposit or use is in accordance with the conditions, if any, specified in the licence.

• (2) Except in a case falling within the following subsection, a person who contravenes any of the provisions of the preceding subsection shall, subject to subsection (4) of this section, be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding £400 or on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both.

• (3) A person who contravenes paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section in a case where—

• (a) the waste in question is of a kind which is poisonous, noxious or polluting; and

• (b) its presence on the land is likely to give rise to an environmental hazard; and

• (c) it is deposited on the land in such circumstances or for such a period that whoever deposited it there may reasonably be assumed to have abandoned it there or to have brought it there for the purpose of its being disposed of (whether by himself or others) as waste,

shall, subject to the following subsection, be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding £400 or both or, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine or both.

• (4) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove—

• (a) that he—

• (i) took care to inform himself, from persons who were in a position to provide the information, as to whether the deposit or use to which the charge relates would be in contravention of subsection (1) of this section, and

• (ii) did not know and had no reason to suppose that the information given to him was false or misleading and that the deposit or use might be in contravention of that subsection; or

• (b) that he acted under instructions from his employer and neither knew nor had reason to suppose that the deposit or use was in contravention of the said subsection (1); or

• (c) in the case of an offence of making, causing or permitting a deposit or use otherwise than in accordance with conditions specified in a disposal licence, that he took all such steps as were reasonably open to him to ensure that the conditions were complied with; or

• (d) that the acts specified in the charge were done in an emergency in order to avoid danger to the public and that, as soon as reasonably practicable after they were done, particulars of them were furnished to the disposal authority in whose area the acts were done.

• (5) In this section and subsections (5) and (6) of the following section “land” includes land covered with waters where the land is above the low-water mark of ordinary spring tides and the waters are not inland waters (within the meaning of Chapter I of Part III of the Water Act 1989).

Provisions supplementary to s. 3

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• (1) Where activities for which a disposal licence is required apart from this subsection have been carried on on any land during the period of six months ending with the date when subsection (1) of the preceding section comes into force, nothing in that subsection shall apply to the carrying on of those activities on the land during the period of one year beginning with that date and, where at the end of that period an appeal is pending in pursuance of section 10 of this Act against a rejection of an application for a disposal licence in respect of those activities on the land or against a decision to issue such a licence which specifies conditions, until the appeal is determined.

• (2) Nothing in subsection (1) of the preceding section applies to household waste from a private dwelling which is deposited, disposed of or dealt with within the curtilage of the dwelling by or with the permission of the occupier of the dwelling.

• (3) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, in exercising the power conferred on him by subsection (1) of the preceding section to prescribe excepted cases, to have regard in particular to the expediency of excluding from the controls imposed by virtue of that subsection—

• (a) any deposits which are small enough to be properly excluded from those controls or are of such a temporary nature that they may be so excluded;

• (b) any uses of plant or equipment which are innocuous enough to be so excluded;

• (c) cases for which adequate controls are provided by an enactment other than that subsection;

and without prejudice to the generality of section 104(1)(a) of this Act the said power may be so exercised as to prescribe different excepted cases for different areas.

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) For the purposes of subsection (3) of the preceding section—

• (a) the presence of waste on land gives rise to an environmental hazard if the waste has been deposited in such a manner or in such a quantity (whether that quantity by itself or cumulatively with other deposits of the same or different substances) as to subject persons or animals to a material risk of death, injury or impairment of health or as to threaten the pollution (whether on the surface or underground) of any water supply; and

• (b) the fact that waste is deposited in containers shall not of itself be taken to exclude any risk which might be expected to arise if the waste were not in containers.

• (6) In the case of any deposit of waste, the degree of risk relevant for the purposes of the preceding subsection shall be assessed with particular regard—

• (a) to the measures, if any, taken by the person depositing the waste, or by the owner or occupier of the land, or by others, for minimising the risk; and

• (b) to the likelihood of the waste, or any container in which it is deposited, being tampered with by children or others.

Licences to dispose of waste

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• (1) An application for a disposal licence in respect of any land in the area of a disposal authority must be made in writing to the authority . . .

• (2) A disposal licence shall not be issued for a use of land, plant or equipment for which planning permission is required in pursuance of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 or, in Scotland, the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 unless such permission is in force; . . .

• (3) Where an application has been received for a disposal licence for a use of land, plant or equipment for which such planning permission as aforesaid is in force, it shall be the duty of the appropriate Agency not to reject the application unless that Agency is satisfied that its rejection is necessary for the purpose of preventing pollution of water or danger to public health.

• (4) Where the appropriate Agency proposes to issue a disposal licence, it shall be the duty of that Agency before it does so—

• (a) to refer the proposal to any collection authority whose area includes any part of the relevant land; and

• (b) to consider any representations about the proposal which, during the period of twenty-one days beginning with that on which the proposal is received by a body . . . mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection or during such longer period as that Agency and that body . . . agree in writing, that Agency receives from that body . . . (including in particular any representations about the conditions which that body . . . considers should be specified in the licence);

. . .

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (6) A person who, in an application for a disposal licence, makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400 or on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both.

Provisions supplementary to s. 5

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• (1) Provision may be made by regulations . . . as to the conditions specified in a disposal licence which shall be disregarded for the purposes of sections 3(1) and 31(2)(a) of this Act.

• (2) . . . , a disposal licence may include such conditions as the appropriate Agency sees fit to specify in the licence; and without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this subsection, any such conditions may relate to—

• (a) the duration of the licence;

• (b) the supervision by the holder of the licence of activities to which the licence relates;

• (c) the kinds and quantities of waste which may be dealt with in pursuance of the licence or which may be so dealt with during a specified period, the methods of dealing with them and the recording of information relating to them;

• (d) the precautions to be taken on any land to which the licence relates;

• (e) the steps to be taken with a view to facilitating compliance with any conditions of such planning permission as is mentioned in subsection (2) of the preceding section;

• (f) the hours during which waste may be dealt with in pursuance of the licence; and

• (g) the works to be carried out, in connection with the land, plant or equipment to which the licence relates, before the activities authorised by the licence are begun or while they are continuing;

and it is hereby declared that a condition may require the carrying out of works or the doing of any other thing which that Agency considers appropriate in connection with the licence notwithstanding that the licence holder is not entitled as of right to carry out the works or do the thing.

• (3) The holder of a disposal licence who without reasonable excuse contravenes a condition of the licence which in pursuance of regulations made by virtue of subsection (1) of this section is to be disregarded for the purposes mentioned in that subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale; but no proceedings for such an offence shall be brought in England and Wales except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or by the Environment Agency.

• (4) It shall be the duty of the Environment Agency and of SEPA—

• (a) to maintain a register containing copies of all disposal licences which are for the time being in force in respect of land in England and Wales or, as the case may be, Scotland;

• (b) to secure that the register is open to inspection . . . by members of the public free of charge at all reasonable hours; and

• (c) to afford members of the public reasonable facilities for obtaining from that Agency, on payment of reasonable charges, copies of entries in the register.

• (5) If within the period of two months beginning with the date on which a duly made application for a disposal licence was received, or within such longer period as the appropriate Agency and the applicant may at any time agree in writing, the appropriate Agency has neither issued a licence in consequence of the application nor given notice to the applicant that that Agency has rejected the application, that Agency shall be deemed to have rejected the application.

• (6) References to land in the preceding section and this section include such water as is mentioned in section 4(4) of this Act.

Variation of conditions and revocation of licences

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• (1) While a disposal licence. . . is in force, then—

• (a) subject to any regulations in force by virtue of subsection (1) of the preceding section, the appropriate agency may—

• (i) on its own initiative, serve a notice on the holder of the licence modifying the conditions specified in the licence to any extent which, in the opinion of that agency, is desirable and is unlikely to require unreasonable expenditure by the licence holder, and

• (ii) on the application of the licence holder, serve a notice on him modifying the said conditions to the extent requested in the application;

and

• (b) it shall be the duty of that agency to serve a notice on the licence holder modifying the conditions specified in the licence—

• (i) subject to subsection (4) of this section, to the extent which in the opinion of the authority is required for the purpose mentioned in section 9(1)(a) of this Act, and

• (ii) to the extent required by any regulations in force as aforesaid.

• (2) Subsection (4) . . . of section 5 of this Act shall with the necessary modifications apply to a proposal to serve a notice in pursuance of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b)(i) of the preceding subsection as it applies to a proposal to issue a disposal licence, except that—

• (a) the Environment Agency or SEPA, as the case may be, may postpone the reference in pursuance of the said subsection (4) so far as it considers that by reason of an emergency it is appropriate to do so; and

• (b) the Environment Agency or SEPA, as the case may be, may disregard any collection authority for the purposes of the preceding provisions of this subsection in relation to a modification which, in the opinion of that Agency, will not affect that authority.

• (3) Section 5(6) of this Act shall apply to an application in pursuance of subsection (1)(a)(ii) of this section as it applies to an application for a disposal licence.

• (4) Where a disposal licence. . . is in force and it appears to the appropriate Agency—

• (a) that the continuation of activities to which the licence relates would cause pollution of water or danger to public health or would be so seriously detrimental to the amenities of the locality affected by the activities that the continuation of them ought not to be permitted; and

• (b) that the pollution, danger or detriment cannot be avoided by modifying the conditions specified in the licence,

it shall be the duty of that Agency by a notice served on the holder of the licence to revoke the licence.

• (5) A notice served in pursuance of this section shall state the time at which the modification or revocation in question is to take effect.

Transfer and relinquishment of licences

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• (1) The holder of a disposal licence may, after giving notice to the appropriate Agency that he proposes to transfer it on a day specified in the notice to a person whose name and address are so specified, transfer the licence to that person; but a licence in respect of which such a notice is given shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period of ten weeks beginning with the date on which that Agency receives the notice if during the period of eight weeks beginning with that date that Agency gives notice to the transferee that it declines to accept him as the holder of the licence.

• (2) If by operation of law the right of the holder of a disposal licence to occupy the relevant land is transferred to some other person, that person shall be deemed to be the holder of the licence during the period of ten weeks beginning with the date of the transfer.

• (3) Except as provided by the preceding provisions of this section, references in this Part of this Act to the holder of a disposal licence are references to the person to whom the licence was issued.

• (4) The holder of a disposal licence may cancel the licence by delivering it to the appropriate Agency and giving notice to that Agency that he no longer requires the licence.

Supervision of licensed activities

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• (1) While a disposal licence is in force it shall be the duty of the appropriate Agency to take the steps needed—

• (a) for the purpose of ensuring that the activities to which the licence relates do not cause pollution of water or danger to public health or become seriously detrimental to the amenities of the locality affected by the activities; and

• (b) for the purpose of ensuring that the conditions specified in the licence are complied with.

• (2) For the purpose of performing the duty which is imposed on the Environment Agency or SEPA, as the case may be, by the preceding subsection in connection with a licence, any officer of that Agency authorised in writing in that behalf by that Agency may, if it appears to him that by reason of an emergency it is necessary to do so, carry out work on the relevant land and on any plant or equipment to which the licence relates.

• (3) Where the Environment Agency or SEPA incurs any expenditure by virtue of the preceding subsection, it may recover the amount of the expenditure from the holder of the disposal licence in question, or if the licence has been revoked or cancelled from the last holder of it, except where the holder or last holder of the licence shows that there was no emergency requiring any work or except such of the expenditure as he shows was unnecessary.

• (4) Where it appears to the appropriate Agency that a condition specified in a disposal licence . . . is not being complied with, then, without prejudice to any proceedings in pursuance of section 3 or 6(3) of this Act in consequence of any failure to comply with the condition, that Agency may—

• (a) serve on the licence holder a notice requiring him to comply with the condition before a time specified in the notice; and

• (b) if in the opinion of that agency the licence holder has not complied with the condition by that time, serve on him a further notice revoking the licence at a time specified in the further notice.

Appeals to Secretary of State from decisions with respect to licences

10

• (1) Where—

• (a) an application for a disposal licence or a modification of a disposal licence is rejected; or