Standard rules guidance to operate a composting activity involving the storage, physical treatment and composting of specified biodegradable wastes in either an open or a closed (in-vessel) composting system.

You can apply online for most standard rules environmental permits.

Apply for a standard rules environmental permit.

The indicators currently used are:

• claimant count
• economic activity
• redundancies
• house prices
• business insolvencies

Additional information:

• older versions of the rural economic bulletins
• Defra commissioned research on the rural economy

All requests to release GMOs into the environment, like GM crop trials or clinical tests of GM vaccines, are referred by government to ACRE.

ACRE assesses each request against the possible risks to human health or the environment. If more information is needed to review the application then ACRE will request this from the applicant directly.

Finally ACRE publishes a report that sets out a summary of its findings in each case. This recommends government either approves or denies the request, and may also contain conditions or monitoring measures that ACRE thinks should be included.

The most recent advisory reports from ACRE are:

This report describes current levels of groundwater and abstraction within the London basin chalk aquifer, and why changes may have occurred. It also describes the current abstraction licensing policy and groundwater management issues.