SPC/PERMISSIONING/32 V1
This circular informs staff of changes to the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 1992 (the Consent Regulations) brought about in England by the Planning (Hazardous Substances)(Amendment)(England) Regulations (the Amendment Regulations) which came into force on 1 October 2009.
Note: These Amendment Regulations apply to England only. It is understood that amendments to the relevant legislation in Scotland and Wales will come into force in November and December respectively. The amendments in Scotland and Wales will be differently titled but will have the same effect.
The Planning (Hazardous Substances)(Amendment)(England) Regulations 2009 implement Directive 2003/105/EC on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances in England. The Directive amended the Seveso II Directive (96/82/EC), which was implemented in England and Wales by the Planning (Control of Major-Accident Hazards) Regulations 1999 and in Scotland by the Planning (Control of Major-Accident Hazards)(Scotland) Regulations 2000.
The main effect of the amendments is to change the scope of the Consent Regulations through changes to Part A and Part B of Schedule 1. In particular, the amendments include:
Details of the changes are given in Annex 1.
Any applications for hazardous substances consent made in England after 1 October should be made on the basis of the amended regulations. The same will apply in Wales and Scotland once the relevant legislation has been amended.
There is an existing procedure for handling hazardous substances consent applications when they are received by operational teams. This includes the use of a spreadsheet to check the aggregation of substances. CI5 maintain this spreadsheet and have recently issued an update covering the latest version of the regulations.
The new spreadsheet should now be being used in England. It should be used in Scotland after 23 November, when the relevant amendment is expected to come into force. The amendment to the legislation in Wales is not expected to come into force until 31 December 2009, and the new spread sheet should be used from that date. Therefore, for Scotland and Wales, until the dates mentioned, the old spreadsheet should be used.
Contact HID CI4A, Tim Beals, VPN 523 4885
The relevant changes brought about by the Amendment Regulations are as follows:
The entries for ammonium nitrate (AN) have been amended. The two existing entries for fertiliser grade and technical grade AN have been retained, but with a reduced concentration of AN covered. Two new entries have been added covering, firstly, fertilisers capable of self-sustaining decomposition and, secondly, "off-spec" material. From 1 October 2009 the entries for AN in Schedule 1 Part A of the Consent Regulations are as follows:
| Description | CQ1 | Note42 |
|---|---|---|
| Note 1. Fertilisers capable of self-sustaining decomposition | 5,000 | 10,000 |
| Note 2. Fertiliser grade | 1,000 | 1250 |
| Note 3. Technical grade | 350 | |
| Note 4. Off-spec material and fertilisers not satisfying the detonation resistance test | 10 |
1 CQ = Controlled quantity (Q) in tonnes
2 Note 4 = Quantity for purposes of note 4 to the notes to parts A and B (Q*)
Because of similarities with AN, potassium nitrate is also now a named substance with two entries:
| Description | CQ1 | Note42 |
|---|---|---|
| Composite potassium nitrate-based fertilisers composed of potassium nitrate in prilled/granular form | 5,000 | |
| Composite potassium nitrate-based fertilisers composed of potassium nitrate in crystalline form. | 1,250 |
1 CQ = Controlled quantity (Q) in tonnes
2 Note 4 = Quantity for purposes of note 4 to the notes to parts A and B (Q*)
There are three changes to the list of named carcinogens. Firstly, seven new carcinogens have been added to the previous list. These are:
The other two changes affect all the named carcinogens. The dilution cut-off has been raised from 0.1% to 5% by and the controlled quantity has been raised from 0.001 tonnes to 0.5 tonnes.
The entry in the Consent Regulations for "Automotive petrol and other petroleum spirits" has been replaced with a "Petroleum products" category that encompasses medium oil distillates. Three classes of substances are covered by the new category with a Controlled quantity that is half that of the former automotive petrol category. The new entry is:
| Description | CQ1 | Note42 |
|---|---|---|
| Petroleum products: | ||
| (a) gasolines and naphthas | 2,500 | |
| (b) kerosenes (including jet fuels) | ||
| (c) gas oils (including diesel fuels, home heating oils and gas oil blending streams) |
1 CQ = Controlled quantity (Q) in tonnes
2 Note 4 = Quantity for purposes of note 4 to the notes to parts A and B (Q*)
The definitions of the two categories of explosives have been revised to align with the UN/ADR classification. This distinguishes between explosives on the basis of the hazard they represent rather than the reference to risk phrases contained in EC Directives on classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances used previously:
| Description | CQ1 | Note42 |
|---|---|---|
| Explosive where the substance, preparation or article is an explosive within UN/ADR Division 1.4 | 50 | |
| Explosive where the substance, preparation or article is an explosive within UN/ADR Division 1.1,1.2, 1.3, 1.5 or 1.6 or risk phrase R2 or R3 | 10 |
1 CQ = Controlled quantity (Q) in tonnes
2 Note 4 = Quantity for purposes of note 4 to the notes to parts A and B (Q*)
The Amendment Regulations change the definition of these substances and significantly reduce their qualifying quantities:
| Description | CQ1 | Note42 |
|---|---|---|
| Dangerous for the environment risk phrases - | ||
| (a) R50: "Very toxic to aquatic organisms" (including R50/R53) | 100 | |
| (b) R51/53: "Toxic to aquatic organisms: may cause long term adverse effects in the aquatic environment" | 200 |
1 CQ = Controlled quantity (Q) in tonnes
2 Note 4 = Quantity for purposes of note 4 to the notes to parts A and B (Q*)
The aggregation rule is used to determine the application of the Consent Regulations where substances are present in quantities less than the Controlled Quantity. The Amendment Regulations make an important change to the way in which the aggregation rule is applied.
In order to reflect the different nature of the hazards, substances dangerous for the environment are no longer to be aggregated with toxic and/or /very toxic substances. Consequently the aggregation rule must be applied separately for:
Using the Controlled Quantities from Part A if the substance is named, or from Part B if it is not.
This change brings the Consent Regulations into line with COMAH so far as the aggregation rule is concerned, where the calculation has been on that basis since the 2005 COMAH amendment.
