15 Feb 2023
Environmental principles policy statement Defra has published the final version of its environmental principles policy statement, to which ministers will have to have “due regard” when making policy. The statement set out that policymakers should apply the following five environmental principles to support environmental protection and enhancement: the integration principle the prevention principle the rectification […]
08 Feb 2023
The government has announced that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is to be broken up as part of Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle. The prime minister has unveiled a new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which will be led by Grant Shapps, previously the BEIS secretary. This could help prioritise […]
01 Feb 2023
The government has published its long-awaited “five-year delivery plan to restore nature and improve the environmental quality of the air, our waters and our land”. Key aspects include Every household to be be within a 15-minute walk of a green space or water. A commitment to restore at least 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of wildlife habitat, […]
22 Jan 2023
Government’s progress on delivery of its 25 year plan to improve the environment has ‘fallen far short’ and opportunities to change course must be taken. The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) presents here its independent assessment of Government’s progress in improving the natural environment in accordance with its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) for England in […]
18 Jan 2023
Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey has announced a ban from October 2023 in England on a range of single-use plastic items, mostly relating to food. These included plates, trays, bowls, cutlery and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers. England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery — most of which are plastic — and […]
06 Dec 2022
Following months of pressure from civil society groups, the UK Government has signed on a public information campaign for improving home energy efficiency backed with £18m. It has also confirmed the details of the next phase of the ECO scheme, ECO+. Sadly, the only advice relating to water is “reducing the temperature a boiler heats […]
01 Jun 2022
The Office for Environmental Protection, established to hold the Westminster government to account in terms of its environmental performance post-Brexit, has published its first report. It calls for the government to aim high and act now to ensure it achieves its ambitions and points out that ‘government strategy and policy have not yet proved successful’. […]
18 May 2022
Demonstrating a welcome shift in attitude from the Government on water quality, Ministers have agreed with the majority of the recommendations in the Environmental Audit Committee report, Water quality in rivers. Read the Government Response Read the Report: Water Quality in Rivers Inquiry: Water Quality in Rivers Environmental Audit Committee The Government and the water […]
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