NRW set to implement new environmental regulatory charging scheme

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A new charging scheme for some of Natural Resources Wales’ (NRW) permitting services has been approved by the Minister for Climate Change, Julie James MS and will be implemented from 1 July 2023. It is hoped that these changes will reduce reliance on taxpayers and create schemes that work better for the environment and business.

This update to charging schemes comes from an NRW consultation in October of last year. The consultation proposed making changes to a number of charging schemes associated with applications for new and amended permits which would see charge payers pay for the full regulatory services they use.

NRW will introduce the new and revised charges from 00:01hrs on 1 July in the following areas:

  • Industry Regulation
  • Site Based Waste
  • Water Quality
  • Water Resources
  • Reservoir Compliance
  • Introduction of Species Licencing Charges
  • Changes to how we define and offer Pre-application Advice

Previously, on 1 April 2023, NRW implemented annual subsistence increases across eight regulatory regimes, which primarily cover the fees for compliance monitoring.

The announcement of these changes can be found here and the NRW consultation response can be found here.