The new parliamentary session which starts on 11 May will be a crucial one for the environment. In this ‘super year’ of major international nature and climate summits, parliament will debate and pass the first dedicated Environment Bill for over twenty years.
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Our dynamic, living planet is on a journey: the UK government has made it clear it wants the destination to be an environment in a better state than we found it, a welcome ambition which is embedded in the government’s long term environment strategy. But clear signposts will be needed to ensure that we don’t lose our way and we can navigate the choices and challenges that lie ahead.
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A welcome new report from the cross cutting Public Accounts Committee has set down a clear challenge for the government on why action to meet its long term environmental goals must be accelerated.
Coming only days after the announcement that the flagship Environment Bill was being carried over into the next parliamentary session, bringing a delay of some six months, the report offers a timely reminder that environmental progress cannot be assumed and requires sustained leadership and commitment.
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This is meant to be a year of environmental ambition. In November, the prime minister announced his plan for a green industrial revolution, while COP President Alok Sharma’s recurring message is that “…urgent action is the only way to meet our [climate] goal”.
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This post is by Matt Williams, trustee of the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.
In 2019, I led a small group of young people and their parents on a guided nature walk around Lugg Meadows. We heard a kingfisher, talked about how otters might be present in the river and watched a red kite circling nearby. As a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), this section of the River Lugg is protected for its importance for biodiversity.
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This post is by Hatti Owens, Client Earth lawyer. It was originally published on Business Green.
After a delay of over six months, the Environment Bill is finally back. Having just completed review by a committee of MPs in Parliament, we expect its enactment during the first part of next year.
But the Bill is soon to be finalised and problems remain that must be urgently addressed.
Read moreThis post is by Katy Losse, manager of environment studies at the National Audit Office (NAO).
It is now nine years since the government set an ambition to be the first generation to improve the natural environment in England. The NAO’s experience of auditing large scale, longer term or cross government projects and programmes makes us ideally placed to examine how well set up the government is to achieve this particular aim. In our review this year, we concluded that, although its arrangements are developing, there is still a long way to go before the government can be confident that it has the right framework to deliver on its environmental aspirations.
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This post is by Philippa Goodwin, senior policy officer at the RSPB
Anyone tuning in to parliamentary debates on the Environment Bill will have heard Environment Minister Rebecca Pow refer to the ‘triple lock’ mechanism, which she says is key to driving short term environmental progress. She has already used this analogy during the bill’s second reading and twice during the bill’s committee stage on 10 March and 3 November, and we are promised that we will hear a great deal more about it as the bill progresses. So, does it stand up to scrutiny and will it deliver the legal certainty that the minister is clearly hoping for? Here are our responses to the triple lock mechanism.
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After a lengthy delay of more than six months, the Environment Bill will make a welcome return to parliament on 3 November. It will pick up where it left off with a committee of MPs going through the bill in detail and discussing where changes and clarifications are needed. During its absence we have faced major challenges, the resurgence of coronavirus and significant new evidence of the perilous state of nature at home and across the planet.
Read moreIt is good news that the Environment Bill will resume its parliamentary journey on 3 November after a delay of more than six months. The not-so-good news is that the government has proposed some amendments to the Bill (for example, see NC24 on page 50) which would weaken the already precarious independence of the new green watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).
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