Licenced sites
*IMPORTANT NOTE: From 1 July 2021 some EPA data has changed due to new legislation:
- Data on new sites with Environmental Audits, Licenced Sites and Priority Sites (notices) under the Environment Protection Act 2017 after 1 July 2021 is not currently available in Victoria Unearthed.
- Information on new audits and permissions (including licences) issued under the Environment Protection Act 2017 is available on the EPA public registers
- The current Priority Sites Register is available on the EPA website
EPA and DELWP are working to incorporate new EPA data in Victoria Unearthed.
Under the Environment Protection Act 1970 (EP Act), occupiers of premises with the potential for significant environmental impact are subject to EPA works approvals and/or licences and/or financial assurance requirements.
The Victoria Unearthed licenced sites layer allows users to view those sites that are currently licenced by EPA. Licenced sites appear on the Victoria Unearthed map as dark blue dots or dark blue outlined shapes with vertical lines. The shapes may only be visible when you zoom in on the map to a scale of 1:250,000 or less. Shapes show a site boundary or area covered by an EPA licence and the dots are GPS coordinates.
A licence may be held by a legal entity, whether a person, a company, a statutory corporation or a municipal council. Licences contain standard conditions that aim to control the operation of the premises so that there is no adverse effect on the environment. These conditions address areas such as waste acceptance and treatment, air and water discharges, and noise and odour. The EP Act specifies penalties for breach of licence conditions and for operating a site without a licence.
Licences are issued from EPA’s statutory activities and the information in this layer is accurate, reliable and updated on a regular basis by EPA Victoria.
EPA licences are public documents. You can search the EPA interaction portal for a licence or amalgamated licence. An amalgamated licence is issued when a single legal entity has multiple licenced premises. Victoria Unearthed shows the location of each individual licenced site.
For more information on licences including licence amendment, transfer, suspension/revocation, surrender, monitoring and guidelines visit the EPA website.
An EPA licence allows businesses to discharge wastes into the environment under strict conditions and to manage prescribed industrial wastes.
An EPA licence is required for all scheduled premises, unless the premises are exempted in the Environment Protection (Scheduled Premises) Regulations 2017.
Scheduled premises are those with the potential for significant environmental impact and subject to EPA works approvals and/or licences and/or financial assurance requirements.
Licenced sites are not contaminated sites – they are sites that hold a licence to discharge wastes into the environment, or accept and treat wastes, under strict conditions.
Depending on the activities undertaken at the site and the licence holder’s ability to identify and control site risks, there may be a potential for the site to be contaminated; however, this can only be confirmed via site specific monitoring undertaken as part of the licence conditions or requested following an EPA inspection.
Where a licenced site has been issued a clean-up notice pursuant to section 62A or a pollution abatement notice pursuant to section 31A or 31B (relevant to land and/or groundwater) of the Environment Protection Act 1970, the site will be included on EPA’s priority sites register, and the priority sites register layer of Victoria Unearthed.
For information on the licence application and issuing process, visit the EPA website.
On Victoria Unearthed the search results (in the left side bar) click “View related reports” to download the Licence document directly from the EPA website.
The details for each licence point or area include the following information about licenced sites:
- Licence number
- Last amended (date of the most recent update of the licence)
- Amalgamated licence? Y/N (Licence holders that have more than one EPA licence on a site may combine them into a single, amalgamated licence (previously known as a corporate licence).
- Schedule category description (type of scheduled premises as defined in Environment Protection [Scheduled Premises] Regulations 2017, e.g. Prescribed Industrial Waste Management)
- Status (approved, expired)
- Company (named entity on the licence i.e. licence holder)
- Suburb (locality in which the licenced premise is located; this may be different to the licenced entity’s registered address)
- Premises address (the address of the licenced premises)
- Registered address (registered office of the licenced entity; this may be different to the premises address where the licenced activities take place)
Licences are inspected using the Licenced Operator Risk Assessment (LORA) model, a consistent and transparent approach to planned licence compliance inspections based on the risk of each site. Read more about the LORA model here.
At the end of each financial year licence holders are required to submit an Annual Performance Statement that details compliance with conditions of the licence. Read more about APS and compliance with licence conditions here.
Search for the location on the Victoria Unearthed map, using the search box. Ensure the licences layer is turned on. On Victoria Unearthed licenced sites appear as dark blue dots or shapes. Shapes may only be visible if you zoom in to a scale of 250,000:1 or less. Click on a dot/shape and click the ‘Identify’ button to view results for the site.
Alternatively, licences can be searched on the EPA website:
- visit the ‘Licences’ page
click on ‘SEARCH FOR A LICENCE’ or ‘SEARCH FOR AN AMALGAMATED LICENCE’, which will take you to the interaction portal:
- fill in the details in the interaction portal and click ‘SEARCH:
Please visit the Portal help and troubleshooting page of the EPA website.
Page last updated: 10/12/21