The Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will amend the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 on 24 June 2024.
This legislation will apply in England and Wales only.
What will change?
Further information will be published online and accessed from energy assessments, Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and inspections of air conditioning systems.
Further, anonymised data regarding buildings entered onto the public registers will be made available.
A process is also established to allow owners, landlords and occupiers of buildings to access information from the public register, accreditation schemes or energy assessors. This includes information collected by assessors during the assessment that was not lodged on the public register. Where consent has been granted, this information may also be shared with third parties.
The changes aim to make information on buildings more widely available.
Background
Under the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, energy performance certificates are required whenever a building is marketed, constructed, sold or rented. Display energy certificates are required for larger existing buildings for public use. There are also requirements for the inspection of air conditioning systems.
New publications this month:
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)
List of large producers on the report packaging data service
Defra has published a list of large organisations who have registered and reported data under the extended producer responsibility for packaging waste. These companies are required to report under the Report Packaging Data (RPD) service.
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS AND TRADE
UK Sustainability Reporting Standards
This guidance now reflects a framework document on how to create UK sustainability reporting standards.
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY AND DEFRA
Air emissions risk assessment for your environmental permit
Guidance on calculating average periods has been updated to reflect how new long term 24-hour mean Environmental Assessment Levels can be applied.
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Extended Producer Responsibility
Environment Agency contacts and information on deadlines have been clarified in the following guidance:
Flood risk Assessments
The following guidance concerning flood risk assessments for planning applications have been updated or made available for the first time:
Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs)
A new RPS and an updated RPS were published during May 2024:
DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO AND DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Contracts for Difference, renewables obligation and small scale feed-in tariffs: companies awarded exemption or compensation
Lists of companies awarded exemptions or compensation for various electricity network charging schemes have been published.
DEFRA AND NATURAL ENGLAND
Countryside hedgerow protection: removing hedgerows
Updated guidance was provided to reflect the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024
RURAL PAYMENTS AGENCY
Two new guidance documents reflect the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024:
WELSH GOVERNMENT
Monitoring and maximising the performance of roof-top solar arrays: guidance
Updated guidance is provided on getting the most electricity output from roof-top solar arrays.
Amendments to approved document L: Volume 1 – Dwellings - Conservation of fuel and power (Wales only)
Approved Document L for dwellings has been amended in Wales. This applies revised requirements through the building control regime.
Approved Document O (Wales): Overheating frequently asked questions (Wales only)
This document aims to answer frequently asked questions on requirements against overheating under the Welsh building control regime.
Water company convicted for failing to provide records requested by the Environment Agency
Anglian Water Services Ltd has been convicted of failing to provide information that was requested by the Environment Agency.
The case was brought by the Environment Agency against Anglian Water Services Ltd, which arose from a wider criminal investigation involving all ten water companies into potential non-compliance with environmental permit conditions at over 2,000 wastewater treatment works.
The Environment Agency served several statutory requests for records on Anglian Water Services Ltd. The company was convicted of failing, without reasonable excuse, to respond to one of these notices between dates in January 2022 and January 2023.
Anglian Water Services Ltd had entered a not guilty plea to the charge, claiming that they had a reasonable excuse for non-compliance. However, having heard the evidence in the case, the District Judge rejected that claim.
Breach
Anglian Water Services Ltd was convicted on one count of failing, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a requirement imposed under Section 108 of the Environment Act 1995, contrary to Section 110(2)(a):
Anglian Water Services is due to be sentenced in July 2024.
Man illegally stored waste near his home
A man has been fined for illegally storing waste in Somerset.
The man had registered two waste exemptions for the site in Blackdown Hills, Somerset:
The T9 exemption allowed for the treatment of specified types and quantities of scrap metal, excluding scrap vehicles, at a site with sealed drainage to prevent liquid run off.
Enforcement officers attending the site in January 2023 found waste including end of life vehicles and parts, a significant quantity of mixed metal, mixed waste electronic equipment as well as general commercial and domestic waste. Despite the requirements of the exemptions, there was no sealed drainage.
During previous site visits, officers had attempted to secure voluntary removal of the waste and the man had said he wished to clear the site. However, this did not take place and the officers issued him enforcement notices giving him until the end of the year to do so.
However, in January 2024, officers returned to the site and found waste still present, including a large amount of scrap metal and vehicles, gas bottles, batteries, wood, tyres, rubble and commercial and domestic waste, some of which was in skips. In addition, there was a smell of oil contamination in one area. Since then, the site has virtually been cleared of waste.
Breaches
The man admitted two charges of failing to comply with notices requiring the removal of waste from his land.
Penalty
The man was fined £1,200 (£600 for each offence) and ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a victim surcharge of £480.
Man from County Durham fined for illegally transporting waste
A man has received a five-figure fine after he was found to have illegally transported waste.
The man was found to have transported 25,000 tonnes of waste to unknown locations without a waste carrier’s registration. Waste carriers must hold a carrier’s registration and abide by the waste duty of care. The man’s registration expired in July 2020. Waste transfer notes (for non-hazardous waste) and consignment notes (for hazardous waste) must document waste movements, outlining where the waste originated, who transported it and where it was taken.
Between September 2020 and September 2022, the man’s company (B&S Recycling) collected 170 loads of waste from two sites in Tyne and Wear.
The defendant was served a notice by the Environment Agency which required the man to provide information on where each of the 170 loads had been deposited by 31 October 2022. No response was received.
In October 2022, the Environment Agency officer spoke with the defendant, who denied that any waste had been deposited at his own County Durham site, claiming it had been mixed with mag-lime and spread on farmers’ fields.
The man was fined £4,250 and ordered to pay £5,650 in costs and a victim surcharge.
