Environmental permitting

Environmental permitting

Air pollution emissions from industrial processes can have an impact on local air quality. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea regulates small industrial processes in the borough under the Pollution Prevention and Control regime, to ensure the prevention and reduction of emissions to air.

The table shows industrial activities in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the associated emissions to air:

If you operate or are planning to operate a dry cleaning installation, a petrol filling station or any other activity that falls under the regulations, in the borough please visit our Information for Operators page.

The legislation 

Pollution from all industrial processes is governed by the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 and the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 ('The Regulations').

The Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 set out systems of approval for industrial processes which produce atmospheric emissions or have the potential to do so. The Regulations cover three types of activities or installations:

• A(1) installations, for example a Power Station - these are regulated by the Environment Agency
• A(2) installations, for example large scale glass manufacturing - these are regulated by local authorities
• Part B Installations, for example, dry cleaners, local authorities also regulate these

Processes dealt with by the Council

Under the Regulations, the Council is responsible for permitting and inspecting all Part A(2) and Part B installations.

Currently, there are no Part A(2) installations within the borough. Part B installations are those that have the potential to cause air pollution only and include activities such as dry cleaning and the unloading of petrol. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is almost entirely residential in character therefore there are very few industrial processes.

There are 28 Part B installations currently operating that hold an Environmental Permit and these are outlined in the table below. All permits (with the exception of 2 which are still in progress) have been recently updated as there have been changes to legislation and premise details since they were last issued.

List of Part B Permits

	Name and address	First authorised	Type	Emissions to air
1.	Bromptons Specialist Dry Cleaners, 277 Old Brompton Road SW5 9JA Ref. 06/012725	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
2.	Chelsea Cleaners, 162 Old Brompton Road SW5 0BA Ref. 06/012728	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
3.	Debonair, 10 Stratford Road W8 6QD Ref. 07/031948	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
4.	Delux Dry Cleaners Ltd (trading as Dry Cleaning Machine), 312 Earl's Court Road, SW5 9BQ Ref. 07/031947	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
5.	Isla Dry Cleaners, 14 Earl's Court Road W8 6EA Ref. 07/031959	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
6.	Kynance Laundry and Dry Cleaning, 2- 3 Kynance Place SW7 4QS Ref. 07/023636	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
7.	Lewis & Wayne, 13- 15 Elystan Street, SW3 3NT Ref. 06/008703	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
8.	Melbury Dry Cleaners, 274 Kensington High Street W8 6ND Ref. 07/031956	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
9.	Melbury Dry Cleaners, 255 Old Brompton Road, SW5 9HP Ref. 06/012727	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
10.	Miracle Dry Cleaning & Laundry, 9 Gloucester Road, London, SW7 4PP Ref. 22/313128	03/01/223	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
11.	Nextdoor Dry Cleaners, 60 Princedale Road W11 4NL Ref. 16/193905 04	04/01/2017	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
12.	99 Dry Cleaners, 136 Holland Park Ave, W11 4UE Ref. 06/012711	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
13.	One Dry Cleaners Limited, 467 King’s Road SW10 0LU Ref. 07/031965	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
14.	The Park Tower, 101 Knightsbridge SW1X 7RN Ref. 07/031962	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
15.	Premier Dry Cleaners, 8 Abingdon Road W8 6AF Ref. 10/082364	17/05/2010	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
16.	Radiant Dry Cleaners, 5 Hogarth Place, SW5 0QT Ref. 06/008802	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
17.	Reeves of Kensington, 129 Earl's Court Road SW5 9RH Ref. 07/031963 (Permit in the process of being updated)	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
18.	Sir Plus DC Limited, 343 Portobello Road W10 5SA Ref. 07/031970	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
19.	Sparkles Dry Cleaning, 512 King’s Road SW10 0LD Ref. 07/031955	2007	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
20.	Specialist Dry Cleaners, 5 Kenway Road, SW5 0RP Ref: 20/258806	2023	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
21.	Spic ‘N’ Span, 103 Golborne Road W10 5NL Ref. 07/031971	31/03/2008	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
22.	12 Dry Cleaners, 180 Holland Park Avenue, W11 4UJ Ref. 12/127342	28/08/2013	Dry cleaner	Volatile Organic Compounds
23.	Chelsea Cloisters Service Station Chelsea Cloisters Sloane Avenue London SW3 3DL Ref. 09/066138	30/12/1998	Petrol Filling Station	Volatile Organic Compounds
24.	Notting Hill Gate Filling Station Ltd 22 St Marks Road, Kensington, London W11 1RB Ref. 08/052374	07/01/1999	Petrol Filling Station	Volatile Organic Compounds
25.	Sainsbury 2 Canal Way Ladbroke Grove W10 5AA Ref. 08/054251	31/01/1999	Petrol Filling Station	Volatile Organic Compounds
26.	Shell UK Ltd 106 Old Brompton Road London W14 3RA Ref. 08/054260 (Permit in the process of being updated)	07/01/1999	Petrol Filling Station	Volatile Organic Compounds
27.	Shell UK Ltd 49 Tadema Road London SW10 0FY Ref. 08/054252	12/02/1999	Petrol Filling Station	Volatile Organic Compounds
28.	Tesco Stores Ltd 459 Fulham Road London SW10 9UZ Ref. 08/054257	30/12/1998	Petrol Filling Station	Volatile Organic Compounds

 

Document

Part B processes map PDF, 576.01 KB, 1 page

Further information about each permitted installation is held in the Public Register. Some documents within the public register can be viewed on the public register page or find out how to view a hard copy of the public register.

The processes

Part B Processes

1. Petrol filling stations – unloading of petrol into storage

The filling stations in the borough have all been authorised for operating a vapour recovery system. The vapour recovery process works by returning vapours displaced by the delivery of petrol into storage installations through a vapour-tight connection line to the tanker delivering the petrol.

The system applies to the unloading of petrol from a delivery vehicle into the storage tanks of filling stations and, since the 1st January 2010, it also applies to the unloading of petrol from storage tanks into customers’ vehicle fuel tanks.

The Environmental Permit ensures that this system is working correctly and that the process will not have an adverse impact on local air quality.

2. Dry cleaners – use of organic solvents

The Solvent Emissions Regulations 2004 (SED Regs) was introduced to limit further emissions of VOCs through the use of organic solvents. This gives effects to European Directive 1999/13/EC, which is commonly referred to as the Solvent Emissions Directive.

All new dry cleaning installations using organic solvents (in particular perchloroethylene (PER), hydrocarbon solvent (HSC) and siloxane) must have a permit before operations commence. The permit has conditions that ensure that only a certain amount of solvent is used per load of clothes cleaned and confirms that the dry cleaning machine is operated and maintained appropriately.

Part A Processes

In addition to Part B processes, there are also Part A processes. These are large industrial processes and are regulated by the Environment Agency.

Until September 2002 we had one Part A process in the Royal Borough - the Lots Road Generating Station. This has now ceased to operate.

Further information can either be viewed in the Councils Part A register held in the Environmental Health department or by contacting the Environment Agency

Inspection and Compliance Monitoring

All installations and processes are inspected on a regular basis by both the regulating body and the operator to ensure compliance with their Environmental Permit. The frequency of the inspections is dependent on the results of a risk assessment process.

The risk assessment process has been devised by Defra and is undertaken annually. The risk assessment comprises an environmental impact appraisal and an operator performance appraisal.

Fees and charges

Operators of Part B processes are charged an annual subsistence fee which is set each year by DEFRA. There are also charges for applying for an Environmental Permit. To see the current charges for this year visit the DEFRA website.

Public Register

The Council maintains a register of all authorised processes in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. This register can be viewed Monday to Friday during normal office hours at the Council Offices. See the Public Register page for details.

There is no charge for accessing the public register. Any photocopying of information will incur an administration charge.