A bid to cut red tape and save businesses time and cash has been announced by the Department of Energy and Climate – including a cut to regulations covering ponies down coal pits.
Some 86 regulations have been scrapped and 48 improved, creating savings for business of about £400million over the next 20 years, according to DECC.
Many of the rules being scrapped are outdated legislation relating to the coal mining and gas industries, set up in the wake of whole scale mine closures and gas market privatisation.
One particularly outdated rule, finally being thrown out, is “regulations covering the legal requirements for keeping and working horses/ ponies underground”, under the Coal and Other Mines (Horses) Order 1958.
A more up to date change is to remove an order limiting nuclear power plant operator’s liability to pay compensation for injury or damage arising from a nuclear accident.
This had been increased from a limit of £20million to £140million, in 1994. Scrapping the order will leave operators with unlimited liability, under government regulations. Changes to regulations impacting on the more current offshore industry included an amendment to the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002, which controls the use and discharge of chemicals from offshore installations. DECC said this would now be “streamlined to improve functionality and reduce costs for installation operators whilst maintaining all environmental protections”.
An order regulation the offshore liquifaction of natural gas was also scrapped.
Regulations that have been amended include pollution controls on offshore combustion installations, as well as rules governing offshore petroleum activities relating to conservation of wildlife habitats as well as oil pollution prevention and control.