The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has responded to recommendations for a review of environmental regulations conducted for it by economist Dan Corry.
The review makes 29 recommendations for streamlining regulation, all of which the government says it is considering.
Secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs Steve Reed said: “Nature and the economy have both been in decline for too long. That changes today. As part of the Plan for Change, I am rewiring Defra and its arms-length bodies to boost economic growth and unleash an era of building while also supporting nature to recover.
“Dan Corry’s essential report gives us a strong set of common-sense recommendations for better regulation that will get Britain building.”
Nine measures with the greatest impact for growth and nature recovery will be fast-tracked, Defra said. Work has already begun on:
- Lead regulator: a single, lead regulator for major infrastructure projects will end the merry-go-round of developers seeking planning approvals from multiple authorities who often disagree with each other, to speed up approvals and save businesses millions in time and money.
- Revamping environmental guidance: reviewing the existing catalogue of compliance guidance, including on protecting bats, to identify opportunities to remove duplication, ambiguity or inconsistency.
- Streamlined permits and guidance: speeding up work to update the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 to allow regulators to make “more sensible” decisions on which activities should be exempt from environmental permits, in some cases removing them altogether for low-risk and temporary projects.
- Planning permit portal: Defra says it will convene the environmental regulators to set out the work required to upgrade their digital systems for planning advice, including a single planning portal for all agencies.
- Creation of a Defra Infrastructure Board: facilitating greater collaboration and stronger oversight within Defra and its arm’s-length bodies.
- More autonomy: “trusted” nature groups will be given new freedoms to carry out conservation and restoration work without needing to apply for multiple permissions at every step of a project. A pilot collaboration between Natural England and the National Trust will allow Europe’s largest conservation charity to cut down on the volume of applications for consents, permits and licences it must currently submit.
- Green finance boost: a new industry-funded Nature Market Accelerator “will bring much needed coherence to nature markets” Defra says, to give businesses greater confidence to invest.
- Strategic policy statements for regulators: clearer guidance and measurable objectives for all Defra’s regulators, starting with Natural England and the Environment Agency.
- Rolling regulatory reform: a continuous programme of reform is promised to pinpoint rapid actions, quick wins and longer-term areas for improvements to regulation.
Dan Corry, who led the review, said: “Our current system for environmental regulation lets down both nature and growth; we must focus on good outcomes and nature enhancement, not on rigidly preserving everything at any cost.
“This review clearly shows that simply scrapping regulations isn’t the answer – instead, we need modern, streamlined regulation that is easier for everyone to use. While short-term trade-offs may be needed, these reforms will ultimately deliver a win-win for both nature and economic growth in the longer run.”
Currently, nature groups, developers and farmers are forced to navigate and comply with a complex patchwork of over 3,500 regulations – many of which are out of date and duplicative, Defra recognises – as well as multiple overlapping regulators, all while shelling out vast sums in legal costs. The government says that it recognises that “this approach not only stunts economic growth but impedes recovery, holds up the delivery of homes and infrastructure and creates an unnecessary financial and administrative burden”.
Among the organisations welcoming the reforms are the Mineral Products Association (MPA), which represents producers of aggregates, cement, concrete and a range of other essential materials.
Mark Russell, executive director of the MPA, said: “This review contains lots of ideas that are really welcome, and we hope to see them implemented. The mineral products sector is committed to delivering huge benefits for nature while supplying essential materials for the economy, and this review suggests better ways to encourage both of these. The key challenge is delivery, and we will be pushing Defra and the regulators to ensure this review leads to change.
“The mineral products industry is deeply committed to high environmental standards and nature recovery… but our members are also often frustrated by how slowly and inefficiently regulation is applied. Regulators that are effective and focused on enabling better outcomes for business and the environment are an important part of the UK’s need to deliver on economic growth and nature recovery.”
An independent review of Defra’s regulatory landscape is available via www.gov.uk
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