House of Commons - Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs

Select Committee on Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Sixth Report

SIXTH REPORT

The Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee has agreed to the following Report:—

THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

1. Our quality of life can no longer be measured solely in crude economic terms. It depends crucially on the protection and enhancement of the environment. The quality of the air we breathe, of the water we drink and bathe in, and of the land on which we build our houses and grow our food have to be taken into account when assessing whether we are better off now than we were five, ten, twenty or more years ago.

2. The Environment Agency has a crucial role to play in delivering a better quality of life for the people of England and Wales. As the regulator of polluting industries, it controls emissions of those substances which have the potential to damage our air, water and land; as the manager of river basins and freshwater fisheries it has the opportunity to make improvements to the landscape of the country in which we live. With its remit to promote sustainable development, the Environment Agency is also the body which has the greatest potential for influencing the behaviour and attitudes of Government, business and the general public in such a way that they come to recognise the benefits which are to be gained from acting in a more environmentally sustainable way.

3. This Report presents our conclusions on the progress the Agency has made since it formally took up its duties on 1 April 1996. These conclusions are based upon the written and oral evidence we received from witnesses representing nearly 90 different organisations, and upon our own experiences of the Agency and its work, not least during our visit to various of the Agency's operations in the South West.[8] We are grateful to all those who helped with the inquiry, especially those which gave up their time to talk to us during our visit. We are also particularly grateful to our advisers, David Slater and Stephen Tromans, for their help throughout this inquiry.

History of this Committee's involvement with the Environment Agency

4. This Committee, and our predecessor Environment Committee, have had a long history of involvement with the Environment Agency. Our predecessors first called for the establishment of an "Environmental Protection Agency or Commission" in their Report on Toxic Waste of February 1989.[9] This body, they suggested, should be charged with "an overall responsibility for safeguarding environmental quality in the United Kingdom."[10]

5. Although the recommendation was rejected by the then Secretary of State for the Environment, who suggested that the creation of such a body was "neither necessary nor desirable",[11] our predecessors reiterated their call for an Environmental Protection Commission or Agency in several subsequent Reports. They concluded, on the basis of evidence received in the course of inquiries into Contaminated Land (1990),[12] Pollution of Beaches (1990),[13] Environmental Issues in Northern Ireland (1990),[14] Indoor Pollution (1991)[15] and the EC Draft Directive on the Landfill of Waste (1991)[16] that there was a real need for such a body. The concept of an Environmental Protection Agency received growing public attention during this time and at first slowly, then with increasing speed, the Government moved towards accepting that its establishment was inevitable.[17]

6. Eventually, on 8 July 1991, the then Prime Minister announced the Government's intention "to create a new agency for environmental protection and enhancement." "It is right," he said, "that the integrity and indivisibility of the environment should now be reflected in a unified agency and I am confident that this will be a significant step forward."[18] A consultation paper setting out options for the eventual responsibilities and form of the Agency was published in October that year, and as part of the consultation process our predecessors reported on The Government's Proposals for an Environment Agency in February 1992.[19] The intervening General Election delayed progress on the establishment of the Agency, but on 13th October 1994 a draft Environment Agencies Bill was published. The Environment Committee took written evidence on the draft Bill and heard oral evidence on it from a variety of interested parties on 23 and 30 November 1994.[20] The Bill subsequently became the Environment Act 1995.

7. The Agency was finally established on 1 April 1996, taking over all the functions of the former National Rivers Authority, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution, and 83 local authority waste regulation authorities, as well as some new functions relating to, for example, contaminated land and air pollution. Since that time, we have continued to take a keen interest in the Agency, examining its work in reports on Water Conservation and Supply,[21] Contaminated Land,[22] The Environmental Impact of Cement Manufacture,[23] Sewage Treatment and Disposal,[24] Sustainable Waste Management,[25] English Nature,[26] and The Operation of the Landfill Tax.[27]

Perceptions of progress since the Agency's formation

8. The Agency employs about 10,000 people and currently spends around £600 million each year on a wide range of tasks including:

air quality and the control of industrial emissions;

regulating waste and dealing with contaminated land;

water quality, water resources, flood management, fisheries and water-based recreation;

habitat protection and conservation.[28]

Its principal aim in discharging its functions, as defined in the Environment Act, is "so to protect or enhance the environment, taken as a whole, as to make the contribution that Ministers consider appropriate towards attaining the objective of achieving sustainable development."[29]

9. The formation of the Environment Agency from its 85 predecessor bodies was described by the Agency itself as "one of the most complex tasks in recent public and private sector history".[30] Others, both amongst regulated industry and amongst those actually involved in the process, recognised these difficulties.[31] UNISON, for example, the trade union representing the majority of Environment Agency staff, wrote:

10. It is clear from the evidence which we have received that the principle of the Agency continues to enjoy broad support and that there is recognition of the positive steps which it has taken since its establishment. For example, the Environmental Industries Association told us that it "fully supports the Agency's integrated approach to environmental protection and welcomes the progress made in several areas"[33], while English Nature commented on "the commitment to partnership that the Agency has shown since its was established three and a half years ago."[34] Friends of the Earth noted that "during the last two years ... we have seen improvements in the Agency's performance."[35]

11. However, the overall perception has been that progress in creating an effective, coherent and confident new body has not been as rapid in the 3½ years since the Agency was formed as it ought to have been. This perception was confirmed during our inquiry. Comments such as "the planned one-stop-shop for integrated environmental management in England and Wales is not working effectively for waste";[36] "it is now 3½ years since the Agency was formed and many fundamental problems do not seem to have been addressed";[37] "the Agency still has many improvements to make before it can be considered to be an effective, fair and independent regulator";[38] and "trying hard, but could do better"[39] were typical of the kinds of things said by witnesses from across the spectrum of the Agency's partners, regulated industry, NGOs and others.[40]

12. The Environment Agency has an absolutely vital role to play both in protecting and enhancing our environment and in promoting sustainable development. Our inquiry has identified a number of problems which must be rectified if the Agency is to become the effective and integrated environmental protection agency which was envisaged by our predecessor Environment Committee. In this Report, we examine these problems and make a number of recommendations which we hope will enable the Agency to start playing that role to the full.

8 Annex Back

9 Second Report of the Environment Committee, Session 1988-89 (HC22), Toxic Waste, para 9 Back

10 ibid, para 12 Back

11 Government Response to the Second Report of the Environment Committee, Session 1988-89, on Toxic Waste: Cm 679 Back

12 First Report of the Environment Committee, Session 1989-90 (HC170) Back

13 Fourth Report of the Environment Committee, Session 1989-90 (HC12) Back

14 First Report of the Environment Committee, Session 1990-91 (HC39) Back

15 Sixth Report of the Environment Committee, Session 1990-91 (HC61) Back

16 Seventh Report of the Environment Committee, Session 1990-91 (HC263) Back

17 For a fuller account of the Environment Committee's work in this area and the evolution of the Government's thinking, see the First Report from the Environment Committee, Session 1991-92 (HC55), on The Government's Proposals for an Environment Agency, paras 2-11. Back

18 Speech by the Rt Hon John Major delivered at the Sunday Times Environment Exhibition, Olympia, London. Back

19 op cit Back