Environmental Legislation Concern

The Government states that “excessive regulation is burdening businesses, hurting our economy and damaging our society.” As a result, the coalition’s initiative is reviewing all of Britain's 278 environment laws, effectively labelling the Wildlife and Countryside Act, the Clean Air Act and the Climate Change Act as nothing more than bureaucratic red tape.

CIWEM’s believes that the protection of the UK environment could be seriously under threat. Whilst regulation that is failing to deliver beneficial outcomes should be reviewed and reformed to ensure better, more effective protection of the environment, they should not be scrapped completely as the Government appears to be proposing.

Justin Taberham, Director of Policy, says: “We need to be working towards a clean, green and sustainable world and effective, strong environmental legislation is crucial in this move towards a low carbon economy. We were promised the greenest government ever – now is the time for the coalition to prove their credentials by addressing the challenges we face from climate change, not to dispose of hard won legislation that protects our environment.”