Venue: Blake Morgan Solicitors, Central Square, Cardiff, CF10 1FS
Tuesday 16 October 2018
Defra’s consultation on ‘Environmental Principles and Governance after the United Kingdom Leaves the European Union’ goes right to the heart of how environmental laws will or should (or may not) be enforced after the UK leaves the EU. It proposes a new Environmental Principles and Governance Bill, to set up a body with the essential task of holding government and public bodies to account for environmental law enforcement, in place of enforcement of EU law by the European Commission and Court of Justice of the European Union. The Bill will also address how the key environmental principles which underpin EU environmental laws should be reflected in UK laws after Brexit.
The new Bill will only apply to England, as responsibility for the environment is a devolved matter, but similar issues will arise for each devolved administration. The Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee of the NAW has published its own report on ‘Environmental Governance Post Brexit’, and some environmental principles are already included in the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, but there are important choices for the National Assembly in how to approach the consultation in England.
The UK and devolved Governments have also issued a Joint Communique setting out the principles that will be followed in deciding on the allocation of powers following Brexit. A Framework Analysis provided by the UK government has identified only a few areas of environmental protection that will require a UK Common Framework in law. This will also have significant implications for environmental law in Wales following Brexit.
Speakers include:
William Wilson - a barrister and director of Wyeside Consulting Ltd, and a specialist environmental, regulatory and nuclear lawyer with over 25 years experience in government, private practice and consulting.
Llinos Price - a policy and public affairs professional with 19 years of experience, predominantly in the statutory environment sector, and in the private and voluntary sectors.
Victoria Jenkins - an Associate Professor in the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law where she has worked since 1999. Her research interests lie in environmental law, specifically legal approaches to sustainable development and the way in which land use planning, landscape and nature conservation laws seek to protect natural resources.
Chaired by Christian Jowett, UKELA Trustee and co-convenor of the Wales Working Party
UKELA is grateful to Blake Morgan for hosting and to our speakers for their time
For further information or to book, please contact UKELA at www.ukela.org/events