With over 25 years’ experience, Envireau Water is well-versed in the intricacies of the UK’s water resources and environmental permitting regulatory system. We understand the importance of building positive relationships with regulators, how essential a robust evidence base is and how it underpins decision making.
Whether securing permission for a new development, obtaining an abstraction licence or environmental permit; successfully negotiating the regulatory system requires an increasingly high level of evidence.
Problems arise when there is insufficient understanding or data to justify a decision. Developing a data set early in a project will often feel costly in both time and money but it is vital to prevent hold ups at a later stage. Envireau Water is currently providing expert witness services to a number of projects including a complex drainage problem for housing developments; containment systems at onshore oil and gas sites; and impacts on private water supplies from windfarm developments. The common thread in all these cases is that they started with a poor level of understanding of the natural water environment, which has resulted in lengthy legal challenges and the need for an expert witness’ input on the planning and permitting appeals processes.
The might create the impression that all projects require a high level of understanding; the development of complex, numerical models; and the need to collect lots of data for long periods of time. Whilst some applications warrant such an approach, usually models can be kept simple and a small but focused data set is sufficient. The old adage ‘quality over quantity’ is key to the Envireau Water approach and the foundation for our strong track record of finding solutions to complex problems where others have failed.
