Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency is taking steps to streamline the (a) application and (b) determination process for (i) abstraction and (ii) impoundment licenses for new hydropower projects.

Determining abstraction and impoundment licences for hydropower projects is a complex activity due to the wide-ranging risks to the environment and water users.

The Environment Agency has implemented several steps to streamline and improve its permitting process through a wide-ranging transformation programme across all its work areas from application acceptance through to assessment. These benefit hydropower projects and create efficiencies for the benefit of all applicants.

Specifically for water resources and hydropower, a new validation process has been introduced to quickly assess if an application is technically valid once received. The aim is for the initial assessments to be completed within 4 weeks and applicants are told if more information is required. New efficient assessment processes for staff, significantly reducing the time taken to assess applications, are being continually introduced.

Delays to the process are often caused by incorrect payments and applications with missing information. Applicants are urged to make use of the enhanced pre-application service which reduces the risk of delays and support applicants to apply for the right type of licences with the correct supporting information.