Advice for the Applicant

ADVICE FOR THE APPLICANT

1.General Regulatory advice

We provide the following regulatory and good practice advice to applicants. The local SEPA office should be contacted for any further advice.

Local SEPA Office

Shetland - The Esplanade, Lerwick ZE1 0LL Tel:01595 696926

The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (as amended) (CAR)

Proposals for watercourse crossings, dewatering, abstraction and watercourse engineering works will all required authorisation under CAR.

The publication ‘The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005: A Practical Guide’ provides very useful advice on CAR and it is recommended that all applicants consult this document which is available both from the website ( and from local SEPA offices to determine whether an application for authorisation is required for the development.

The Water Environment (Oil Storage) (Scotland) Regulations 2006

The Regulations apply to any kind of container which is being used and which is stored on premises above ground, whether inside or outside a building. These include fixed tanks, intermediate bulk containers, drums (oil drums or similar containers used for storing oil) or mobile bowsers. The range of premises covered by the Regulations is wide including land and mobile plant but does not include storage of oil in vehicles or vessels.

It is not necessary for storage facilities to be registered with SEPA however applicants should ensure compliance with the Regulations. Full details of the requirements can be found from SEPA’s website at:

The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (PPC)

The above regulations are concerned with prevention or minimisation of emissions to air, water and soil, as well as waste, from industrial and agricultural installations.

The applicant should note that the crushing of rock or grading or screening of rock or any road stone coating process, except where they are unlikely to result in the release into the air of particulate matter, are Part B prescribed processes under Section 3.5 of The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (PPC).

Further details on PPC can be found at

Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 1994 (as amended)

We encourage waste minimisation whenever possible. Further details can be found on SEPA's website (found at

We similarly encourage the recovery and reuse of controlled waste, such as soils from other sites provided that it is in accordance with the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994. Any proposals for reuse or recycling of materials, such as soils from other sites, may require to be registered with SEPA under a Waste Management Exemption. There are specific criteria which if met will constitute an exemption from licensing under these Regulations (namely Paragraph 35 of Schedule 3 to the Regulations). These exemptions are required to be registered by SEPA and the details must be forwarded to the relevant SEPA office. Applicants should first consult SEPA’s website at and then contact the local SEPA office for further advice.

2.Specific regulatory advice on water abstraction

It is noted that abstraction proposals include a proposal for four concrete batching plants for the development. With an estimated water requirement of 50,000m3, this translates to a constant abstraction rate of 130 m3/day (0.0015m3/sec), for this part of the development. The ES states that candidate sources of water for this process are still under review with both watercourses and lochs being considered.

The developer has suggested the gauging of flows in these candidate water sources over a period of 6 months. We agree that this data will be required to support an application for abstraction. Six months of logged level data calibrated to flow should be suitable to estimate flows but the developer should refer to the paper “How much water can a river give? Uncertainty and the flow duration curve” by Copestake, P. and Young, A.R. 2008 for further guidance. (

SEPA’s gauging station at Weisdale is the most suitable analogue station to provide hydrological data required, particularly for data on low flows. This data can be obtained from us upon request (contact SEPA’s Access for Information team on 01786 457700 or ).

We also have some recorded flow data for the Laxo Burn in catchment 1 of the study area. This consists of spot gauges taken at various times between 1999 to 2009, which can be made available to the developer upon request (again contact SEPA’s Access for Information team on 01786 457700 or ).

3.Other General Advice

Waste Minimisation

Waste minimisation projects have saved businesses money as they have reduced energy usage, water consumption and waste disposal costs. If you are interested in saving your business money and benefiting the environment through minimising waste, you can find more information on SEPA's website (found at or from your local SEPA office).

Sustainable Waste Management

SEPA realises the potential contribution that recycled and substitute sectors can have for the construction industry and in making Scotland more sustainable, and therefore works with several organisations to offer information and advice. External links to companies providing further information can be found at One of the key concepts of sustainable development is the reuse of waste materials as opposed to using virgin materials. Construction and demolition wastes are often sent to landfill incurring charges and landfill tax, even though they can often be reused or recycled. More information on the uses of demolition materials, the reuse of waste and case studies can be found on the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) website at Reuse and recycling of waste is encouraged where ever possible, however, their use may require to be registered with SEPA under a Waste Management Exemption or a licence and therefore advise should be sought from the local SEPA office.

Pollution Prevention

In addition to the requirements of legislation the following good practice guidance should be considered when developing and an appropriate strategy for prevention pollution from the development:

• Pollution Prevention Guidance note PPG2: Above ground storage tanks (SEPA);
• Pollution Prevention Guidance note PPG4: Disposal of sewage where no mains drainage is available (SEPA);
• Pollution Prevention Guidance note PPG5: Works in, near or liable to affect Watercourses (SEPA);
• Engineering in the Water Environment. Best Practice Guide: Construction of River Crossings (SEPA)
• Pollution Prevention Guidance note PPG6 - Working at Construction and Demolition Sites (SEPA);
• Control of Water Pollution from Construction Sites – Guidance for consultants and contractors (CIRIA C532);
• Control of Water Pollution from Linear Construction Sites – Site Guide (CIRIA 649);
• Control of Water Pollution from Linear Construction Projects – Technical Guidance – (CIRIA C648);
• SEPA Special Requirements for Civil Engineering Contracts for the Prevention of Pollution V2 (2006) (SEPA);
• SEPA Guidance on the Special Requirements for Civil Engineering Contracts V2 (2006) (SEPA);
• CIRIA C697 SuDS manual
• The Small Environmental Guidance for Construction Works (SEPA/CIRIA); and
• Forests and Water Guidelines: Fourth Edition (Forestry Commission)

We would expect to see the principles contained within this guidance to be incorporated within any environmental statement or construction method statement requested.

Pollution Prevention Guidance documents are available from NetRegs website at or from the local SEPA office.

4.Invertebrate data held by SEPA

The following data may be helpful to you in characterising the baseline conditions.

SITE / NGR / Years of invert data / Years of macrophyte data
Burn of Laxobigging (near SVT) / HU 41151 73130 / 2003-2006 / N/A
Laxo Burn - B9075 Bridge at Laxo / HU 44485 63420 / 2000-2009 / N/A
South burn of Burrafirth – B9071 Bridge of East Burrafirth / HU 36696 57510 / 2000-2006 / N/A
Burn of Weisdale @ Stenswall / HU 39379 52599 / 2000-2009 / 2008
Burn of Weisdale @ Dros Wall 4.25km d/s Kergord / HU 40321 55620 / N/A / 2008
Burn of Kergord 850m D/S source / HU 40427 58922 / N/A / 2008
Burn of Weisdale U/S Hoove farm / HU 40300 55500 / 1998-1999 / N/A
Burn of Weisdale d/s farm & u/s Weisdale hatchery / HU 39700 53500 / 1998-1999 / N/A
Burn of Weisdale d/s Weisdale hatchery / HU 39400 52800 / 1997-1999 / N/A
Burn of Grunnafirth u/s Bridge / HU 46084 59705 / 2006 / N/A
Grunna Water u/s South Nesting sheep dipper / HU 46100 54900 / 1999-2001 / N/A
Grunna Water d/s South Nesting sheep dipper / HU 46200 54800 / 1997/1999-2001 / N/A
Stromfirth/Sandness burn – Loch of Strom / HU 40816 51230 / 2000-2006 / N/A