A new environmental watchdog to maintain standards and hold ministers to account is to be set up under plans for a green Brexit, the government has announced.
Environmental measures from improving air and water quality and protecting endangered species are currently overseen by the European commission and underpinned by green principles across the EU, such as “the polluter pays”.
The new independent statutory body will replace the EU’s mechanisms and will be backed by a law requiring ministers across Whitehall to “have regard to” core environmental principles, set out in a statement of national policy.
Michael Gove, the environment secretary, set out his plans in a consultation document on Thursday.
“The body will support our commitment to be the first generation to leave our environment in a better state than that in which we inherited it,” the document says.
Gove added: “But we will only achieve our aims by also creating a strong and objective voice that champions and enforces environmental standards. That’s why our environmental principles and governance bill will also create an independent and statutory watchdog. This will hold governments to account for delivering their commitments to the natural world.”
Campaigners have called for a watchdog with teeth that can enforce regulations. Kierra Box, Friends of the Earth’s Brexit campaign lead, said the government’s plan was a bare minimum.
“We also need to see all EU environmental principles in primary legislation – these values determine how we act around the environment – for example, making polluters pay for ruining nature and habitats. These principles will guide future lawmakers and make sure they keep valuing our natural environment.”
The environmental principles and governance bill will be published in draft in the autumn. It will not be introduced until the next session of parliament, however, in the autumn of 2019. Existing EU protections expire after the transition period ends at the end of 2020.
The government insists there will be no weakening of environmental protections. As a minimum, the statutory body will be able to issue advisory notices to those in breach of standards.
But many green campaigners regard that as a low bar, and a betrayal of the government’s pledge to bring in standards of environmental protection that match or exceed the EU’s.
Richard Benwell, a lobbyist for the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust, said: “It must improve on EU policy not just in ‘easy areas’ like farming and fishing, where the EU’s record is patchy, but also in areas where the EU leads the world, like the application of the environmental principles.”
Brussels directives have played a vital role in reducing air and water pollution, and providing campaigners with a way of holding government to account. The British government has frequently found itself on the wrong side of EU directives, most recently on clean air. Legal action has been used to make the government comply with Brussels legislation.
However Gove will have had to fight hard against a Treasury that is notoriously hostile to all green measures, which they see as a tax on business.
This consultation document has been the subject of difficult negotiation with both the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and, it’s thought, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling.
NGOs are meeting Gove this morning to discuss the proposals, but they have already been widely criticised. They had argued the withdrawal bill would have been the most effective way of ensuring continuity of protection.
Peers were highly critical that there was nothing about environmental protection in the bill, and forced the government to concede that Thursday’s consultation document would be published before a third reading in the Lords next Wednesday.
from Environment | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2I40vbc
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