In praise of red tape: getting regulation right

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, gives a speech at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry on environmental regulation. This is a Must Read detailed speech by Sir James Bevan, CEO of the Environment Agency – on the Post-Brexit regulatory regime   Click here to read the full speech   This is a long detailed speech touching on many aspects of the Environment Agency’s work on the water environment.  Some extracts to give you a sense of its coverage.

‘So even though I have titled this speech, deliberately provocatively, “In praise of red tape”, let me be clear that I am against red tape, if by red tape we mean regulation for its own sake, or bad regulation.

‘Let me give you some real life examples of EU laws we could repeal, amend or keep. I would repeal the EU Floods Directive.’

‘I think we should also consider reforming one of the totemic EU laws, the Water Framework Directive. The WFD, as it is known to the practitioners, was a landmark piece of legislation.’

‘I am not for slash and burn. There is a lot of EU-derived law that I would keep as is. Much of it was written by UK experts, and much of it does well what we all want: protect or enhance nature.

Example: the Bathing Waters Directive …’

‘There’s one final thing that good regulation can do for us, and that is to save the planet. The biggest of all threats we face – to our environment, our economy, our future – is the climate emergency. And the climate emergency is a great example of where regulation works and can stimulate not choke business.’

‘Let us resolve to avoid wanton regulation. But let us also recognise that good regulation is not red tape: it is what gets you green growth and a blue planet.’

Click here to read the full speech