Levelling up reforms must not undermine environmental protection, new watchdog warns Government

New regulator the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has warned the Government that its 'levelling up’ reforms must not jeopardise the environment.

The OEP has been set up to handle aspects of environmental regulation that lay with the European Commission before Brexit.

It is separate from the Environment Agency and is concerned with holding government and other public authorities to account. 

The OEP scrutinises environmental improvement plans and targets and environmental law and can take enforcement action against failures to comply with this.

Reforms proposed in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill must be approached with care to avoid undermining environmental protection, the regulator said. 

It also called for “assurances that the proposals support the government’s ambition for overall improvement to the environment and don’t just seek to maintain current positions”. 

Evidence given to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill Committee by the OEP flagged up proposals that would provide ministers with powers to significantly change environmental law through secondary legislation amending or replacing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) regimes.

OEP chair Dame Glenys Stacey said: “We recognise Government's desire to develop a new, outcome-based approach for EIA and SEA. We see there are potential benefits to this approach and scope for improvement in the current regimes.

“Yet there are also risks. Reform needs to be approached with care, based on proper assessment of its impacts, to avoid undermining existing high levels of environmental protection and ensure clarity for those to whom the law applies.”

Dame Glenys said it was unclear how the Government had assessed the EIA and SEA legislation or compared it to the better environmental outcomes expected from proposals under the Bill.

“We believe Parliament and others need to see this analysis in order to make informed judgements,” she said.

The OEP was also disturbed by what it said was the Government’s failure to meet a legal requirement to publish several EIA implementation review reports by May 2022, consequently leaving these unavailable from scrutiny.

Although the Government has said the Bill will not reduce the level of environmental protection, “we are not aware of how the effect of the current legislation has been compared against that of the Bill,” the OEP said.

“We believe it would be helpful for Parliament and others if Government were to set out the analysis supporting its conclusions and judgements in these areas.”

The OEP also complained that it was unclear how the ‘safeguard’ clause - which requires overall levels of environmental protection to be maintained rather than improved - will be assessed and scrutinised. 

It asked for clarity around the Habitats Regulations Assessment, saying that while the Bill should not provide for its replacement “it does appear that this could be the effect in practice”.

Dame Glenys added: “Securing an effective environmental outcome-based system will be a complex, long-term endeavour. As well as effective policy and legislation, it will depend on adequate delivery mechanisms and governance, taking account of considerations such as resourcing, monitoring, reporting and enforcement.”

A spokesperson for the DLUHC said it was reviewing the evidence the Office for Environmental Protection submitted to the Committee and would consider this as part of its ongoing engagement on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.

Mark Smulian