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Apply for pre‑application advice: discharges to surface water or ground

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Before you apply

Before you apply for pre-application advice, check the guidance on discharges to surface water and groundwater (opens in new tab). This explains:

  • when you do not need a permit
  • the different types of permit you may need to apply for

Basic advice

The Environment Agency can give you free basic pre-application advice about:

  • whether you need an environmental permit
  • application charges
  • how to change, transfer or cancel your permit
  • which application forms and other documentation you need to submit with your application
  • whether there are any protected sites or species close to your activity

Enhanced (paid-for) advice

If you need more in-depth advice, the Environment Agency offers an enhanced pre-application advice service.

The guidance on how get pre-application advice (opens in new tab) explains:

  • what this covers
  • the charges for the enhanced service

Most requests are completed in 10 hours or less, and many in 5 hours or less. Only a small number of requests take longer than 20 hours. In these cases, the Environment Agency will contact you to agree a maximum cost to you.

Additional information and supporting documents

At the end of the form you can provide any extra details that were not covered in the earlier questions. You will also be able to upload any relevant supporting documents.