ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an analysis of the deregulatory policy community which intervened in integrated pollution control (IPC) implementation. It addresses the process by which Inspectors and chemical operators secured IPC authorisations. The chapter demonstrates how industry was able to manipulate a general deregulatory policy community to include IPC in its ambit. It focuses on interview evidence and, more importantly, an analysis of the contents of IPC applications and authorisations from 60 percent of the organic chemical operators transferred from the air regime. Interviews with Inspectors about IPC revealed that the pattern of site-level implementation was repeated for other types of process. Legally binding authorisation conditions widen the opportunities open to HM Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) for strict enforcement and prosecution. HMIP’s willingness was enhanced by the prevailing political climate which valued industry’s economic resource and was seeking targets for deregulation. In total, the policy community appears similar to that controlling the old air pollution regime.
