SWM News October 2019 - Will the Environment Bill provide the transformative change we need?
With all the political drama over Brexit this past month, it can be easy to forget that the government laid out 26 new bills to be debated over the next parliamentary year in the Queen’s Speech on 14 October. This includes the new Environment Bill which we first touched on back in our April newsletter comment when it was first mentioned by the Government. But now the Bill has been officially announced in the Queen's Speech what can we look forward to?
The Bill aims to bring in legally binding targets to tackle air pollution, waste, biodiversity loss and protect water resources. The Bill also puts Defra’s 25-year Environment Plan on a statutory footing, sets out core environmental principles for policy-making and sets up a new watchdog, the Office for Environment Protection, which has been created to hold the government to account, monitor progress and ensure public authorities comply with climate and environmental laws. At the moment under EU rules, the government can face heavy fines for failing to meet environmental standards. Post-Brexit, 80% of our environmental rules will be lost and these fines removed without intervention.
Some of the ambitions put forwards in the Bill are: ensuring the environment is at the heart of all government policy making; net zero emission by 2050; improve air quality by increasing local powers to address sources of air pollution; restore and enhance nature through biodiversity net gain; transform waste management; and protect water resources. However, our concern still is how is the government going to make the environment a priority with all this uncertainly and division in Parliament.
Similarly, there are environmentalists who think the Bill is too weak and have expressed concern over whether the new watchdog will get the funding it needs. The watchdog will also not be able to issue fines like the EU does. Other worries are: what targets will be set; how will these targets be achieved; and when will these targets apply? Currently the government has only promised “ambitious, legally binding” targets will come. Will these new laws on waste, air quality, plastic use etc be the same or exceed current EU standards? Only time will tell...
This uncertainty is why SWM is going to great efforts to develop the new Sustainability Roadmap for the region, launching at our Annual Conference on 3 December, to ensure it is ambitious, fit for purpose and can act as a framework for action - regardless of what happens in the next few months.
Jordan Bird, Communications Officer, on behalf of the SWM Team
