In Part 1 of this two part series of articles, we looked at the background to the continued delays in the progress of the Environment Bill and what needs to be done to improve its governance provisions.
In the next article, Part 2 of the series, we look at the efforts of two House of Commons Select Committee Chairs, Philip Dunne MP and Neil Parish MP to galvanise support for improvements to river quality and air quality respectively, and the implications of that for the Environment Bill.
Rivers
The Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, Chair of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has introduced as a Private Member’s Bill a new Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill aimed to control flooding of rivers by water companies with overflowing untreated sewage. He has said –
“Water companies are licensed to spill. This is ruining habitats and risks endangering public health. It has got to stop.”
He has won cross party support from 106 MPs from all parties for his measure – although on 21 January 2021 the Second Reading of his Bill was deferred for the fifth time due to the pressure of other business on coronavirus issues. However, there may be some signs that Mr Dunne is succeeding in exerting pressure for more effective control of such discharges -
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/environment/2021/01/23/ludlow-mp-delighted-as-part-of-clean-rivers-bill-set-to-progress/
But Mr Dunne’s new Bill does raise the issue of whether we would need new laws of this kind if the existing laws were enforced with political will and adequate resources and determination.
The UK Presidency of the EU concluded the Water Framework Directive in the year 2000, and led the whole of Europe in committing to achieving ‘good status” in controlled waters by 2015, which meant ‘good chemical status’ and ‘good ecological status’.
In 2020, 0% of England’s rivers achieved good chemical status and 84% failed to meet good ecological status.
See, for example the report by Roger Harrabin of the BBC on 17 September 2020 “’Total failure’ on English river quality “–
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54195182
This total failure of the application of existing water law merits urgent action from water companies, the Environment Agency, OFWAT, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and Defra, and is the subject of a campaign and legal challenge by Fearghal Sharkey.
It is also relevant to the Environment Bill. The government’s critics argue that the government’s approach to the Bill results in weakening the independence of the Office for Environmental Protection, weakening the application of environmental principles, limiting the targets and standards for key environmental indicators, and replacing objective environmental standards with targets selected by the Secretary of State.
Similar points were made in an important report of the House of Commons Environment Audit Committee, which Mr Dunne now chairs -
EAC Committee report 25 April 2019
‘MPs call for urgent action to plug gaps in environmental protection’
Air quality
On 11 February 2021 the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ‘EFRA’ Select Committee issued an important report on air pollution saying –
“The Government must set tougher targets to lower air pollution if it hopes to reduce the health inequalities laid bare by covid-19. The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee today calls on the Government to address alarming levels of poor air quality in England, highlighting a 'strong and established' case for tackling air pollution, shown to disproportionately affect those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Drawing on evidence taken from health experts, local councils and campaign groups, the Committee's Air Quality report urges the Government to firm up its commitment to clean air by amending the Environment Bill- now delayed until autumn- to set a specific target to reduce particulate levels in line with World Health Organisation guidelines. “
…”The current Clean Air Strategy delegates too much responsibility to local authorities without sufficient resources to deliver, and without effective engagement from Government.
The Committee calls for joined-up cross-departmental Government support, incorporating departments beyond the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Transport.”
Neil Parish MP, Chair of the EFRA Select Committee, said:
“Every year, an estimated 64,000 deaths are linked to air pollution disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities. In rebuilding after the pandemic, we have a moral duty to put improving air quality at its core. “
Again, the importance of effective governance provisions in the Environment Bill was underlined in an earlier report by the EFRA Committee and by Mr Parish -
EFRA Committee report 29 April 2019
‘New environmental watchdog needs greater independence and sharper teeth’
https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news-parliament-2017/draft-environment-bill-report-publication-17-19/
The consequences of failing to enforce environmental laws are apparent, with polluted rivers and chronic air pollution just two examples.
In November 2021,the world’s attention will turn to the COP26 climate change talks due to take place in Glasgow, and international efforts, coordinated by the UK government, to make the Paris Agreement climate change targets a reality, and to limit global warming to 1.5o Celsius. This will take enormous efforts across the whole of society, but it will be delivered and underpinned by national laws in each of the countries which are parties to the Paris Agreement.
The efforts being made by these two House of Commons Select Committee Chairs to improve river quality and air quality are a reminder that for all the attention being given to international efforts to address the climate, and to achieve global protection of the environment and biodiversity, the machinery of national environmental laws needs to work. It is part of the essential delivery mechanism for international obligations.
It remains to be seen whether the government takes the time afforded by the delays to the Environment Bill, to reflect upon the reports of the House of Commons EFRA and EAC Committees from 2019, to respond to the concerns of the Committees’ Chairs in 2021, and to allow constructive amendment of the Bill when it goes to the House of Lords.