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:
The Agency's birth was not
a straightforward one, for although the vision of a coordinated,
onestop shop approach to environment protection was shared
by many, to achieve it required a significant degree of organisational
change. The Agency not only inherited employees from hundreds
of different employers, all with their own salaries and conditions
of service, it also faced the task of bringing together the various
professional, technical and scientific traditions which had existed
in predecessor bodies ... This was a tall order especially when,
in the early stages of development, it was clear that different
approaches were being promulgated by the various vested interests
to achieve prominence in this new and innovative Agency ... given
the circumstances, this was bound to happen in the early stages
of the Agency's life.[32]
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
20 Environment
Committee: Environment Bill: Hearings on the draft Environment
Agencies Bill, HC(1994-95) 40-i, -ii and -iii) Back
21 Sixth
Report from the Environment Committee, Session 1995-96 (HC 437)
(Interim Report), and First Report from the Environment Committee,
Session 1996-97 (HC 42) Back
22 Second
Report from the Environment Committee, Session 1996-97 (HC 22) Back
23 Third
Report from the Environment Committee, Session 1996-97 (HC 124) Back
24 Second
Report from the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee,
Session 1997-98 (HC 266) Back
25 Sixth
Report from the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee,
Session 1997-98 (HC 484) Back
26 Ninth
Report from the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee,
Session 1997-98 (HC 790) Back
27 Thirteenth
Report from the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee,
Session 1998-99 (HC 150) Back
28 Ev
p.138 (EA62) Back
29 Environment
Act 1995, s4(1), (2) and (3); see also ev p.67 (EA31). Back
30 Ev
p.142 (EA62) Back
31 Ev
p.36 (EA18); p.64 (EA29); p.68 (EA31); p.79 (EA37); p.103 (EA50);
p.106 (EA53); Q4; Q314 Back
32 Ev
pp.99-100 (EA49) Back
33 Ev
p.38 (EA20) Back
34 Ev
p.36 (EA18) Back
35 Ev
p.131 (EA59) Back
36 Ev
p.106 (EA53) Back
37 Ev
p.111 (EA54) Back
38 Ev
p.131 (EA59) Back
39 Q241 Back
40 See,
for example, ev p.23 (EA14); p.31 (EA16); p. 39 (EA20); p.44 (EA22);
pp.46-7 (EA23); p.74 (EA32); pp.78-79 (EA36); p.122 (EA58); p.152
(EA68); QQ3-4; Q93; Q99; Q341; Q382; Q553 Back