Notice of designation of catchment permitting areas
The Secretary of State, in accordance with the power conferred under section 96G of the Water Industry Act 1991 to designate a sensitive catchment area as a catchment permitting area, gives notice as follows.
Citation and commencement
This Notice may be cited as the Designation of Catchment Permitting Areas Notice 2024. Catchment permitting area designations are made by the Secretary of State and take effect from 21 August 2024.
Identification of catchment permitting areas
The Secretary of State has designated the following catchments as catchment permitting areas for the purposes of Chapter I, Part IV of the Water Industry Act 1991:
- River Avon
- Solent
- Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast
Effect of this notice
The effect of this notice is to require the Environment Agency to review environmental permits applying to plants which discharge treated effluent into the catchment permitting area that are nutrient significant plants. The Environment Agency may also review such other plants as it considers appropriate.
Following this review, the Environment Agency must impose conditions on the relevant permits relating to nutrients in treated effluent. The purpose of the conditions will be to ensure that, on and after the date specified by the sensitive catchment area designation, the overall effect on the habitats site associated with the catchment permitting area is the same or better than it would be if the standard concentration applied to nutrient significant plants.