v1

latestOpenAPI 3.0.3Environment Agency Conditional Licence2026-07-233570168.4 KB
Flood Risk Activity Exemptions

Search the register of flood risk activity exemptions

get/flood-risk-exemptions/registration

Query parameters

number-searchstring

The full or partial ID of a registration or permit

Note that registration numbers will be treated as collections of words so that a registration number such as CB/HE5831CE will be found by a search for HE5831 even though the initial CB/ is missing.

Each word will be treated as a prefix, so HE will match CB/HE5831CE

As a special case a word ending in a number will be treated as an exact word mach so A2 will match A2 or CB/A2/001 but not A27 or CB/A231/001. This is to avoid confusion when searching for numeric entries. If you need to search for a registration number by prefix then use an explicit wildcard charater e.g. A2*.

name-searchstring

Full or partial name of the business or individual registered.

The text queries are treated as prefixes (so Atkin would match Atkins, Atkinson and so on). To search for a match somewhere within the field you can prefix the search with * (so *tkins would match Atkins, Watkins and so on). If the search string contains more than one word then each is matched separately (so jo atkin would match John Atkinson and Atkins Joinery).

Note that water quality exemptions do not have a holder associated with them and won't appear in results.

name-number-searchstring

A common requirement is to search for a specific registration knowing either the name of the registered person/business or the registration number. This parameter allows you to search for all records where either the name or registration number matches the query term.

A name number search will return the simple union of the results you would expect from name-search and number-search individually, so a query for name-search=abc contains all the records from a search with name-search=abc and all the records from number-search=abc, and the same matching rules apply. For registers that do not support name-search, such as Water Quality Exemptions, this behaves the same as number-search.

Note that, if this parameter is included, no other parameters may be given, with the exception of _limit and _offset. All other search parameters behave as filters, so that all results will match all parameters, and only this one supports the union of two separate search terms. Should you need to filter the results of a name-number-search query by any other field, join the results of separate queries with the name-search and number-search parameter.

eastinginteger

Easting of OS grid point to search by distance radius. Must be used with northing and dist.

northinginteger

Northing of OS grid point to search by distance radius. Must be used with easting and dist.

distinteger

Distance in km from the given OS grid point to search within. Must be used with easting and northing to specify the search center. If left empty, the default value will be used

local-authoritystring

Exact name of the local authority to search Not applicable to the following registers that lack local authority data:

  • Waste carriers, brokers, and dealers
  • Waste exemptions
  • Enforcement actions
exemptionCode'FRA2' | 'FRA3' | 'FRA4' | 'FRA5' | 'FRA6' | 'FRA7' | 'FRA8' | 'FRA9' | 'FRA10' | 'FRA11' | 'FRA12' | 'FRA13' | 'FRA14' | 'FRA15' | 'FRA16' | 'FRA17' | 'FRA18' | 'FRA19' | 'FRA20' | 'FRA21' | 'FRA22' | 'FRA23' | 'FRA24' | 'FRA25' | 'FRA26' | 'FRA27' | 'FRA28'

Code representing a specific type of exemption

CodeDescription
FRA2Electrical cable service crossing over a main river
FRA3Service crossing below the bed of a main river not involving an open cut technique 
FRA4Service crossings attached to the outside of existing structures over a main river
FRA5Footbridge over a main river not more than 8m wide from bank to bank
FRA6Temporary scaffolding in or over a main river for no more than 4 weeks
FRA7Temporary dewatering of a work area for no more than 4 weeks
FRA8Maintaining a raised river defence or sea defence 
FRA9Maintaining structures within the channel of a main river that are not raised defences 
FRA10Constructing drinking bays for livestock on the bank of a main river
FRA11Constructing a small access platform on the bank of a river or that projects into or over a main river
FRA12Outfall pipes less than 300mm diameter through a headwall
FRA13Repairing and protecting up to 10m of main river banks using natural materials
FRA14Repairing bank slips and erosion using the fallen materials 
FRA15Installing channel habitat structures made of natural materials excluding weirs and berms
FRA16Installing temporary small rafts for surveys 
FRA17Gravel-cleaning for fish spawning beds
FRA18Placing stones or logs in a main river to enhance habitats
FRA19Constructing eel pass devices on existing structures
FRA20Constructing fish passage notches in an existing impounding structure
FRA21Removing silt and sand from bridge arches and any material from existing culverts
FRA22Removing silt and sand adjacent to in-river structures 
FRA23Dredging to remove accumulated silt and sand from the bed of up to 1.5km of man-made ditches, land drains, agricultural drains and previously straightened watercourses that are main rivers
FRA24Dredging to remove accumulated silt and sand from the bed of up to 20m of a main river
FRA25Excavating scrapes and shallow wetland features totalling 0.1ha in a flood plain
FRA26Constructing raised flood defences around a maximum of 6 adjoining properties 
FRA27Constructing bankside wildlife refuge structures
FRA28Improvement works for existing tracks and paths
water-management-area-search'West Thames' | 'Kent and South London' | 'Staffordshire Warwickshire and West Midlands' | 'Derbyshire Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire' | 'Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire' | 'Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire' | 'Hertfordshire and North London' | 'Cumbria and Lancashire' | 'Devon and Cornwall' | 'Northumberland Durham and Tees' | 'Solent and South Downs' | 'Essex Norfolk and Suffolk' | 'Outside England' | 'Yorkshire' | 'Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire' | 'Shropshire Herefordshire Worcestershire and Gloucestershire' | 'Wesse'

Water management area where the work that this permit applies to takes place

_limitinteger

The number of registrations to return. Each register has a maximum supported _limit; in most cases this is 10,000 but some are lower. To fetch more registrations, either page through the results using the _offset parameter or use the download endpoint to access the full dataset.

_offsetinteger

Return a list of items starting at the given index. Can be used with the _limit parameter to page through results

namestring

Exact name of the registration or permit holder; use name-search or completion endpoint to search for a name

registrationNumberstring

The exact registration number of a permit; use number-search or completion endpoint to search for a registration number. These may contain forbidden URL charchters such as /. Note that unlike the ID path parameter, this corresponds to the registrationNumber field, not the notation field.

Response

A list of registrations matching search criteria

Example response

{
  "meta": {
    "publisher": "Environment Agency",
    "licence": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-conditional-licence/environment-agency-conditional-licence",
    "documentation": "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/api-reference.html",
    "hasFormat": [
      "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/scrap-metal-dealers/registration.html?_limit=10",
      "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/scrap-metal-dealers/registration.csv?_limit=10",
      "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/scrap-metal-dealers/registration.rdf?_limit=10",
      "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/scrap-metal-dealers/registration.ttl?_limit=10"
    ]
  },
  "items": [
    {
      "register": {
        "@id": "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/flood-risk-exemptions/register",
        "label": "Flood Risk Activity Exemptions Public Register for England"
      },
      "type": [
        "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/def/registration/RegisterItem"
      ],
      "holder": {
        "type": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"
      },
      "localAuthority": {
        "@id": "http://opendatacommunities.org/id/metropolitan-district-council/birmingham",
        "label": "Birmingham"
      },
      "registrationType": {
        "@id": "http://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/flood-risk-exemptions/def/registration-type/FRA2",
        "notation": "FRA2",
        "prefLabel": "Electrical cable service…ssing over a main river"
      },
      "site": {
        "siteAddress": {
          "address": "Dragonfly House, 2 Gilders Way, Norwich, NR3 1UB",
          "organization_name": "Environment Agency",
          "street_address": "2 Gilders Way",
          "locality": "Norwich",
          "postcodeURI": "http://data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/id/postcodeunit/NR31UB"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}