William Wilson on 3 April 2020 submitted evidence to the CCERA Committee of the National Assembly for Wales for its inquiry to the Legislative Consent Memorandum on the UK Environment Bill.

In this evidence, he once more noted the deficiencies in the governance provisions of the Environment Bill, which needs -

(i) proper independence for the Office for Environmental Protection;

(ii) an overall statutory aim, whether a proper “non-regression” clause; a commitment to a high level of environmental protection; or a statutory commitment to leave the environment in a better state than we found it;

(iii) targets to be consistent across media, not selected by the Secretary of State (‘at least one’ from different media);

(iv) Principles to be applied to Ministers and public bodies in the discharge of their functions, without being filtered in a Policy Statement by the Secretary of State;

(v) unjustified exemptions for armed forces and taxation and spending to be removed;

(vi) common frameworks and coordination between different parts of the UK to be energised and made effective;

(vii) unduly restrictive definitions of “natural environment” and “environmental law” to be improved.

Without significant improvements in these areas when consideration of the Environment Bill resumes, the signs are that Wales may be minded to enact its own, and better, governance legislation, with consequently greater strain on the effective coordination and joint working that the environment most needs. The evidence makes some suggestions on approaches for Welsh legislation, and endorses similar conclusions reached by the CCERA Committee of the NAW itself, and by the EFRA and EAC Committees of the House of Commons in 2019, criticisms which have mainly gone unanswered.

For further information please contact William Wilson, at <info@wyesideconsulting.com> tel. +44(0)1225-730-407. Copies of the evidence are available on request, and will be posted in due course on the National Assembly for Wales website.