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Environment Act 2021

Contents

Overview of the Act

  1. The Environment Act ("the Act") comprises two thematic halves. The first provides a legal framework for environmental governance. The second makes provision for specific improvement of the environment, including measures on waste and resource efficiency, air quality and environmental recall, water, nature and biodiversity, and conservation covenants.
  2. The first part of the Act was published in part as the draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill on 19 December 2018, fulfilling a legal obligation set out in section 16 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The measures published at that time related only to environmental principles and governance, and placing the previous government’s 25 Year Environment Plan on a statutory footing.
  3. The remaining parts of the Act make provision for a range of environmental improvements. In its 2019 Manifesto, Get Brexit Done: Unleash Britain’s Potential (opens in new window) , the Conservative Party pledged to "protect and restore our natural environment after leaving the EU". Measures in the Act – many of which were consulted on by the previous government and included in the Environment Act introduced late in the first parliamentary session – take legislative steps to deliver that commitment. The Environment Act was carried over from the 2019-21 Parliamentary sessions into the following session due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the exceptional pressure it caused on the Parliamentary timetable.
  4. The Environmental Governance Part of the Environment Act (Part 1) includes provisions to:
    • allow the government to set long-term targets (of at least 15 years duration) in relation to the natural environment and people’s enjoyment of the natural environment via statutory instrument;
    • require the government to meet long-term targets, and to prepare remedial plans where long-term targets are not met;
    • require the government to set, by October 2022, at least one long-term target in each of the priority areas of air quality, water, biodiversity, and resource efficiency and waste reduction;
    • require the government to set and meet an air quality target for fine particulate matter in ambient air (PM2.5);
    • require the government to set and meet a target relating to the abundance of species; 
    • require the government to periodically review all environmental targets to assess whether meeting them would significantly improve the natural environment in England;
    • establish the process by which a long-term target is set and amended, as well as an enhanced process where a long-term target is lowered or revoked;
    • require the government to have, and maintain, an Environmental Improvement Plan, a plan to significantly improve the natural environment, which sets out the steps the government intends to take to improve the natural environment, and which sets out interim targets towards meeting the long-term targets;
    • require the government to produce an annual report on the Environmental Improvement Plan, to consider progress towards improving the natural environment and meeting the targets;
    • require the government to review the plan periodically, to consider progress and whether further or different steps are needed to improve the natural environment and meet the targets, and if appropriate revise the plan;
    • require the government to collect and publish data used to measure progress in improving the natural environment and meeting the targets;
    • require the publication of a policy statement on environmental principles setting out how environmental principles specified under the Act are to be interpreted and applied by Ministers of the Crown during the policymaking process;
    • create a new, statutory and independent environmental body, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), to hold the government to account on environmental law and its Environmental Improvement Plan now that the UK has left the EU;
    • define the scrutiny, complaints and enforcement functions of the OEP and their scope;
    • establish an enforcement process of environmental review for the OEP;
    • define the nature of the OEP, including considerations of membership, remuneration, staffing, powers, reporting, funding, accounts and other issues;
    • require the government to publish a report on the impact of all new environmental primary legislation; and
    • require the government to undertake a report on environmental legislation across the world every two years.
  5. The Environmental Governance: Northern Ireland Part of the Environment Act (Part 2) includes provisions to extend the application of the OEP to Northern Ireland, and make separate provision for Environmental Improvement Plans and environmental principles in Northern Ireland.
  6. The Waste and Resource Efficiency Part of the Environment Act (Part 3) includes provisions to:
    • require producers to pay the full net cost of managing their products at end of life to incentivise more sustainable use of resources;
    • allow deposit return schemes to be established, whereby a deposit is included in the price of an in-scope item (such as a drink in a bottle or can) which is redeemed when the item is returned to a designated point;
    • enable producer responsibility obligations to be applied at all levels of the waste hierarchy to, for example, facilitate the prevention of food waste and increase the redistribution of food surplus;
    • enable charges to be applied to specified single-use items;
    • require local authorities in England to collect the same range of materials for recycling from households;
    • ensure households have a weekly separate food waste collection;
    • ensure businesses and public bodies in England present recyclable materials for separate collection and arrange for its separate collection;
    • enable the government to set resource efficient product standards and information and labelling requirements, to drive a shift in the market towards durable, repairable and recyclable products;
    • improve the proportionality and fairness of litter enforcement, by issuing statutory guidance on the use of enforcement powers and extending an existing power to set out conditions to be met by all those carrying out enforcement activity;
    • improve the management of waste, by enabling the Secretary of State and the Devolved Administrations to make regulations in relation to tracking waste digitally;
    • improve the regulators’ effectiveness in tackling waste crime, reducing the cost of that criminal activity on the wider economy, environment and society;
    • allow the Environment Agency to be more flexible and responsive in managing exempt waste sites and ensure proportionate controls are in place to avoid environmental harm or illegal activity as waste market practices change;
    • fill a gap in existing powers to ensure that waste can be collected and disposed of when normal processes fail;
    • enable the Secretary of State to make regulations to amend the permitted range of penalties for existing Fixed Penalty Notices; and
    • enable the Secretary of State to regulate the import, export or transit of waste for export, and hazardous waste.
  7. The Air Quality and Environmental Recall Part of the Environment Act (Part 4) includes provisions to:
    • amend Part 4 of the Environment Act 1995 (which creates the Local Air Quality Management Framework) to strengthen the requirements in respect of the National Air Quality Strategy, including a requirement for it to be regularly reviewed;
    • amend the Local Air Quality Management Framework to clarify duties and enable greater cooperation between different levels of local government, and other relevant public bodies, in the preparation of Local Air Quality Action Plans;
    • amend Part 3 of the Clean Air Act 1993 to enable quicker, simpler and more proportionate enforcement of Smoke Control Areas, a key means by which local authorities can control pollution from domestic solid fuel burning; and
    • provide for mandatory recall notices for vehicles and equipment that do not comply with relevant environmental standards and for fines to be issued when a minimum recall rate is not met.
  8. The Water Part of the Environment Act (Part 5) includes provisions to:
    • change the procedural requirements for Water Resources Management Plans and Drought Plans, and enable increased collaboration between different water undertakers to better manage water resources;
    • require the preparation of Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans by sewerage undertakers, to better plan for the management of waste water;
    • place new duties on government, the Environment Agency and sewerage undertakers to require actions for reducing the frequency and harm of discharges from storm overflows on the environment, set requirements for monitoring the quality of water potentially affected by those discharges, and for reporting on those discharges, annually and in real time;
    • modernise the process for modification of water and sewerage undertaker licence conditions by the Water Services Regulation Authority ("Ofwat") to bring it in line with other utilities, and to strengthen Ofwat’s ability to improve water and sewerage undertakers’ operations;
    • change the circumstances in which a licence to abstract water from the environment can be revoked or varied without paying compensation, to prevent damage to the environment;
    • enable future updates to the lists of priority substances in water quality legislation, and enable the reallocation of regulatory responsibilities in the Solway Tweed river basin district; and
    • enable updates to be made to the valuation calculations relevant to the apportionment of internal drainage board (IDB) charges in secondary legislation, allowing for the creation of new or expansion of existing IDBs where there is a local desire to do so.
  9. The Nature and Biodiversity Part of the Environment Act (Part 6) includes provisions to:
    • amend section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 to strengthen and improve the duty on public bodies to conserve and enhance biodiversity, in accordance with the proper exercise of their functions;
    • mandate net gain in biodiversity through the planning system, requiring a 10% increase in biodiversity after development, compared to the level of biodiversity prior to the development taking place, as measured by a metric set out by Defra;
    • require the preparation and publication of Local Nature Recovery Strategies, a tool to direct action for nature, and place an emphasis on supporting local leadership of nature improvement;
    • provide for Species Conservation and Protected Site Strategies to improve the conservation and protection of the most vulnerable species and habitats;
    • provide powers to amend Regulation 9 and Part 6 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 to re-focus the Regulations to support delivery of domestic biodiversity priorities;
    • provide greater enforcement powers to the Forestry Commission to reduce illegal tree felling, and require local authorities to consult local residents prior to the felling of street trees; and
    • address illegal deforestation in supply chains by placing requirements on larger businesses operating in the UK to establish, implement and report on a due diligence system to ensure forest risk commodities produced on land that was illegally occupied or used do not enter their supply chain, and by prohibiting the use of forest risk commodities that have not been produced in accordance with local laws relating to land use and land ownership. 
  10. The Conservation Covenants Part of the Environment Act (Part 7) includes provisions to:
    • provide for Conservation Covenants: voluntary, legally binding private agreements between landowners and responsible bodies, designated by the Secretary of State, which conserve the natural or heritage features of the land, enabling long-term conservation.
  11. The Miscellaneous and General Provisions Part of the Environment Act (Part 8) includes provision to:
    • amend two pieces of retained European Union law relating to the regulation of chemicals;
    • allow for consequential provision; regulations; commencement and transitional or saving provision; and
    • set out the position in relation to Crown application; financial provisions; and the extent and the short title of the Act, which may be cited as the Environment Act 2021.

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