The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance explaining how the ‘Get an air pollution assessment’ service operates for consultants and regulators assessing the effects of developments on sensitive ecological sites in Northern Ireland. Defra stated that the service, which will be evaluated before any wider UK rollout, uses ADMS-Urban dispersion modelling to calculate the impacts of nitrogen oxides (NOx), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ammonia (NH3) emissions using emissions data, meteorological information, land-cover mapping and background pollution concentrations sourced from systems including the UK Air Pollution Information System (APIS), Defra’s Emission Factor Toolkit and the calculator for road emissions of ammonia (CREAM) road emissions model. The guidance explains that users must provide detailed technical information on agricultural, industrial, energy and road emission sources, while the service also accounts for terrain, surface roughness, calm wind conditions, street canyons, deposition and plume depletion when modelling impacts on protected ecological sites. Defra further stated that the service supports assessments submitted with planning, environmental permitting and strategic planning applications, requires consultants to export PDF assessment reports for submission to regulators, and allows regulators to verify modelling outputs and manage submitted assessments through an in-combination archive accessed via GOV.UK One Login.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published two sets of guidance: one on the Rural Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) Network and another on the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN).

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) have published guidance on the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 (SFI26) application process, which will operate through two application windows. The scheme pays farmers and land managers to undertake sustainable land management activities intended to protect the environment, support food production and improve productivity. The first application window will open in June 2026 for small farms with up to 50 hectares of agricultural land and farms without existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreements, remaining open for approximately 2 months. To be eligible, applicants’ farm businesses must have been registered with the RPA by 1 January 2026 and must comprise at least 3 hectares of agricultural land, including arable land, permanent grassland or permanent crops. Each farm business may hold only one SFI26 agreement, with a maximum value of £100,000 per agreement year. The guidance also advises farmers to update their digital maps, contact details and permissions before the opening of Window 1. Full scheme details, including terms and conditions, scheme rules and SFI26 actions, will be published before June 2026. Window 2 will open in September 2026 for all farmers and land managers.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance and a template to assist parent companies in adding multiple subsidiaries to their Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging online accounts. The guidance outlines how to use the template and provides detailed instructions for completing each of the six required columns, including organisation ID, subsidiary ID, organisation name, Companies House number, parent-child relationship, and franchisee/licensee/tenant status.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance on applying to become a deposit management organisation (DMO) for the Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Applications are open until 3 February 2025 for independent, not-for-profit private bodies to manage one or both schemes. The successful DMO will be responsible for running the DRS, which is scheduled to launch in October 2027. The guidance outlines eligibility criteria, the roles and responsibilities of the DMO, and the application and selection process. Defra intends to select the DMOs in April 2025 based on a standardised scoring system.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance for the aviation sector on separating recyclable waste from international catering waste (ICW), which is classified as a high-risk category 1 animal by-product. The guidance sets out protocols for handling ICW from flights arriving in Great Britain from abroad, as well as flights departing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. It details specific procedures for the collection, storage and transport of ICW, with oversight from the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Airlines, aircraft operators, waste handlers and contractors must keep ICW separate from recyclables to prevent cross-contamination and ensure compliance with animal by-product regulations.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), in conjunction with Natural England, has published guidance for local planning authorities on assessing planning applications when Eurasian beavers are present on or near proposed development sites. The guidance outlines how beavers are protected, when to request a beaver survey, and how to assess the impact of proposed development on beavers. It also details necessary avoidance, mitigation, and compensation measures, and highlights that developers may need to obtain beaver mitigation licences if their activities are likely to affect beavers.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance on closed loop recycling under the UK’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging regulations, which are in force as of 13 January 2026. The guidance explains how certain food-grade plastic household packaging that is collected from end users and recycled by producers may be treated as closed loop packaging waste and offset against the weight of household packaging supplied for reporting purposes.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance on conservation translocation in England, providing information on the responsible reintroduction or relocation of species—including plants, animals, and fungi—into the wild. The guidance outlines the different types of translocation projects, including reinforcement, reintroduction, assisted colonisation, and ecological replacement, and sets out nine key principles designed to maximise the success of these projects.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance on how to determine whether items made from endangered species qualify as ‘worked specimens’, which do not require an Article 10 certificate for commercial use. The guidance sets out four criteria that must be met: (1) the item must be significantly altered from its natural state; (2) it must have been manufactured or altered before 3 March 1947; (3) it must not have been reworked to change its purpose since that date; and (4) it must be clearly identifiable as jewellery, adornment, art, utility items, or musical instruments. The document also outlines import and export requirements for worked specimens, and includes specific rules for ivory, tiger, bear, and rhino specimens.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published non-statutory guidelines for sewerage undertakers in England and Wales on the preparation, publication, and maintenance of their Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans in accordance with section 94 of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991). The guidelines are also relevant for Risk Management Authorities working with sewerage undertakers.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has published guidance for organisations on assessing household and non-household packaging under the extended producer responsibility for packaging. The guidance addresses how to assess packaging and what evidence organisations must collect and keep if they are reporting any primary or shipment packaging as non-household packaging. These changes are due to take effect on 1 April 2024, but affects data to submit for the whole of 2024.