A new Environmental Principles and Governance Bill has been unveiled by Government, which it says aims to ensure environmental protections will not be weakened as we leave the EU.
A consultation has been launched today on the contents of the Environmental Principles and Governance Bill, which aims to establish a “world-leading” body to hold government to account for environmental outcomes.
The Government is also consulting on its intention to require ministers to produce – and then have regard to – a statutory and comprehensive policy statement setting out how they will apply core environmental principles as they develop policy and discharge their responsibilities.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “As the Prime Minister has made clear, we will not weaken environmental protections when we leave the EU. A new Environmental Principles and Governance Bill will ensure core environmental principles remain central to government policy and decision-making. This will help us to deliver a Green Brexit and the vision set out in our 25 Year Environment Plan.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove – “A new Environmental Principles and Governance Bill will ensure core environmental principles remain central to government policy and decision-making. This will help us to deliver a Green Brexit and the vision set out in our 25 Year Environment Plan.”
“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.”
Currently environmental decisions made in the UK – from improving air and water quality to protecting endangered species – are overseen by the European Commission and underpinned by a number of these principles, such as the precautionary principle, sustainable development and the “polluter pays” principle.
While these principles are already central to government environmental policy, they are not set out in one place besides the EU treaties. The new Environmental Principles and Governance Bill will ensure governments continue to have regard to important environmental principles through the policy statement, which would be scrutinised by Parliament, government says.
The consultation seeks views on whether or not the principles to be contained in the policy statement should be listed in primary legislation.
The consultation, which will run for 12 weeks, seeks views on the most effective way for the new body to hold government to account, which would include, as a minimum, the power to issue advisory notices. The consultation asks what further enforcement mechanisms may be necessary.
Devolved Governments
The consultation is concerned with environmental governance in England and reserved matters throughout the UK, for which the UK government has responsibility. However, the UK Government is exploring with the devolved administrations whether they wish to take a similar approach.
“We would welcome the opportunity to co-design proposals with them to ensure they work across the whole UK, taking account of the different government and legal systems in the individual nations,” it says.
The Environmental Principles and Governance Bill will be published in draft in the autumn. Public consultation on the environmental principles policy statement will follow in due course. The Bill will be introduced early in the second session of this Parliament, ensuring these measures are introduced in time for the end of the implementation period in December 2020. EU environmental governance structures will continue to apply during the implementation period.
Subject to consultation, the new body could specifically be responsible for:
- providing independent scrutiny and advice on existing and future government environmental law and policy
- responding to complaints about government’s delivery of environmental law
- holding government to account publicly over its delivery of environmental law and exercising enforcement powers where necessary.
