The Government has strengthened its commitment to protect the
environment for future generations and build back greener with
new amendments to the landmark Environment Bill that will see the
UK build on its reputation as a global leader in conservation.
Following work with parliamentarians and wider stakeholders, new
amendments tabled yesterday (26/08) include strengthening the
duty to set a legally-binding target to halt species decline by
2030.
This will solidify the Government’s commitment to leave a richer,
more biodiverse environment for future generations with a clear
need for action: between 1932 and 1984, we lost 97% of our
species-rich grassland, five species of butterfly have
disappeared from England in the last 150 years, and indicators
showing the state of birds dependent on farmland stand at less
than half their value compared to 1970.
This new amendment reflects the Prime Minister’s pledges on the
international stage during the UK’s leadership of this year’s G7
summit - with the G7 committing to halt and reverse the loss of
biodiversity by 2030 as well as signing up to the global ‘30x30’
initiative to conserve or protect at least 30 per cent of the
world’s land and at least 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by
2030 - and will enable us to meet our ambition to make this
world-leading target the net zero equivalent for nature.
New measures will also tackle storm overflows through a new
requirement for water companies to monitor the water quality
impacts of their sewage discharges and publish this information.
This monitoring will drive action by water companies to reduce
sewage discharges that do the most harm, to better protect the
environment and public health. Water companies will also be
required to publish near real-time information on when their
storm overflows operate.
Environment Secretary said:
The Environment Bill is at the vanguard of our work to
implement the most ambitious environmental programme of any
country on earth.
We have been clear about the need, and our intention, to halt
the decline of our natural environment, and so we are
strengthening our world-leading target to put this beyond
doubt. It will be a challenging task, but halting this decline
is a crucial part of our commitment to be the first generation
to leave our environment in a better state.
Our new package of measures on storm overflows will help crack
down on the pollution in our rivers, waterways and coastlines,
to better tackle the harm that they cause.
The Environment Bill will bring forward action to address
environmental challenges including biodiversity loss, climate
change, waste and pollution of the air, water and land.
The amendments will:
- Strengthen the legal language of our new world-leading target
to ‘halt the decline in species abundance by 2030’, reconfirming
our existing commitment to nature.
- Place duties on water companies to monitor the water quality
impact of their sewage discharges and to publish this data, as
well as a duty to provide near real-time information on when
storm overflows operate
- Introduce a duty to require the Government to publish a
report considering the costs and benefits of eliminating
overflows entirely which will inform Government decision-making
in this area.
- Separately, the Government will undertake a review of
legislation which would require Sustainable Drainage Systems to
be constructed to ministerial standards on new developments,
which would reduce the pressure on the sewage system. This type
of “blue-green” infrastructure can deliver a number of benefits –
it can prevent water entering foul sewers; reduce surface
flooding; improve biodiversity, and improve associated carbon
emissions.
- Bring in a further safeguard for the independence of the new
Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) by requiring greater
parliamentary scrutiny of any guidance issued to the OEP.
- Introduce Statutory guidance for local planning authorities
to explain how they should take into account new Local Nature
Recovery Strategies, to embed strategies for the environment and
nature’s recovery into their planning systems.
- Create a duty and power to allow the Secretary of State to
review, and increase if appropriate, the minimum duration for
which new biodiversity gain sites must be secured. This will
allow this important aspect of the policy to be reviewed after
Government has evaluated the early years of mandatory
biodiversity net gain practice, to understand how developers can
make a positive impact on nature from their work
- Bring in additional technical amendments to support swifter
and more effective implementation of Extended Producer
Responsibility measures which will allow for future schemes to
appoint scheme administrators through regulations - saving time
and money. Extended Producer Responsibility schemes mean
companies will be expected to cover the full cost of recycling
and disposing of their packaging, and through the fees they pay
they will be incentivised to use packaging that can be recycled
and meet higher recycling targets.
- Accept all the recommendations of the House of Lords
Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee (DPRRC), which
will ensure appropriate scrutiny of those provisions by
parliament
- The full amendments are published here
- Read more about the Environment Bill
here.
- Today’s announcement will support the delivery of the 25 Year
Environment Plan and is part of the Government’s commitment to
tackle the twin threat of biodiversity loss and climate change.
