Memorandum submitted by the Environment
Agency (SE 03)
SUMMARY
The Environment Agency has worked closely with
the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) on the development
and delivery of the current version of the Regional Economic Strategy
(RES), since its launch in 2005.
Our role is to ensure that the environment is at
the heart of economic development including the protection of
air, land and water quality and the prudent use of natural resources.
The current RES goes beyond the 1999 version and we believe makes
positive contributions to pressing sustainability issues such
as climate change, resource management and a reduction in the
size of the region's ecological footprint. It recognises sustainability
at the heart of the Strategy, and acknowledges the principle that
a good environment supports a prosperous economy.
The real challenge has been to turn these aspirations
into reality.
The following points summarise our evidence:
— We were closely involved in drafting
the RES. The Environment Agency's Regional Director is on the
Steering Group. However we believe that the process of engagement
might have been improved by wider partnership working.
— The effectiveness of the RES in delivering
against its environmental targets is still under review. Action
has centred on high profile projects whose outcomes have yet to
be fully realised. Other mechanisms are needed to deliver transformational
change such as identifying where partners' day to day activities
can contribute to delivery of the RES.
— As SEEDA will be taking the lead on drafting
the Regional Strategy it is important that they are able to take
a broad overview of the planning process.
— Businesses that actively manage their
environmental impacts have not been exempt from the effects of
the current financial and economic situation, although access
to credit has been improved for those businesses looking to invest
in products and embrace efficiency measures.
— It is crucial that delivery of the Sustainable
Prosperity agenda is maintained and the pace of delivery increased.
— The development of a new Regional Strategy,
bringing together economic and spatial plans, will be an important
mechanism to help the South East emerge from the economic downturn
with a strong low-carbon economy.
— We are ready to partner SEEDA to ensure
that the Regional Strategy is ambitious but realistic, setting
priorities that reflect regional pressures and enhance the region's
environment.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Environment Agency is the lead public
organisation for protecting and improving the environment in England
and Wales.
1.2 We welcome the opportunity to respond to
the South East Select Committee's inquiry into SEEDA and the Regional
Economic Strategy. Our response is informed by our work at a regional
and local level, and our direct involvement as a consultee and
partner in the preparation and implementation of the Regional
Economic Strategy. Our comments address areas identified by the
Committee which we feel able to comment on.
2. The process by which the RES was drawn up and
the level of involvement of regional stakeholders
2.1 The Environment Agency was represented
on the RES Steering Group by our Regional Director. This gave
us the opportunity to ensure that sustainability remained high
on the agenda.
2.2 The format of the engagement process, while
good, might have been enhanced by wider partnership working, rather
than the iterative process of providing comments on drafts of
key documents.
2.3 The process differed from the development
of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), which used advisory groups
to ensure partners had full engagement. We would advocate the
use of this or a similar approach for the consultation on the
Regional Strategy (RS).
2.4 Greater engagement during the development
of the RES could have led to better ownership of some of the key
RES targets. For example, the RES water efficiency per capita
consumption target of 135 l/h/day by 2016 was not agreed with
water companies. Whilst both Southern and Thames Water now have
adopted similar targets (albeit for 2030 and not 2016), this was
in response to Defra aspirations and not the RES.
3. The effectiveness of the RES for the South
East in delivering against its targets including the degree to
which the regeneration of areas of deprivation and the former
coalfield areas has been successful
3.1 We contribute to delivery of four of the
targets within the RES. These are associated with achieving the
objective of Sustainable Prosperity and include Target 9—Physical
Development and a Sustainable Built Environment, Target 11—Climate
Change and Energy, Target 12—Sustainable Consumption and
Production, Target 13—Natural Resources and the Environment.
3.2 Achievement of the RES targets relies heavily
on partnerships forming to deliver projects and programmes of
work. We are currently engaged with a number of high profile projects
covering areas such as resource management, green infrastructure,
low carbon business development and climate change. These are
listed in Annex A.
3.3 While these projects will help to achieve
some of the aims of the RES there is a need to increase the pace
of delivery. In addition, other approaches will be required to
achieve the breadth of transformational change that SEEDA aspires
to such as creating a more water efficient economy.
4. The effect of the financial and economic situation
on businesses in the region including the effect on different
sectors such as manufacturing, service industries etc
4.1 Our outline assessment of the effect on
the industry sectors that we regulate within the South East, indicates
that it is the chemical, food and drink and paper sectors that
are worst affected.
4.2 At the same time, while credit from more traditional
means has been squeezed, more loans have become available for
"green businesses" or businesses that wish to upgrade
their equipment to save energy and save money. For example, The
Carbon Trust is providing interest free loans to small and medium
enterprises, and a new UK scheme offering subsidised loans to
companies investing in green products was approved by the European
commission on 27 February 2009 under EU state aid rules.
4.3 Additionally there is the potential for
growth in the energy sector through the new build programme to
establish new companies developing new "green technologies"
which could provide professional/skilled jobs in the south east.
4.4 We feel the time is right to take practical
action to help the region emerge from the economic downturn with
a low carbon economy that is both more environmentally sensitive
and more competitive. For example, the government have set a target
for all new domestic developments to be carbon neutral by 2016.
During this quiet time for the construction industry there is
an opportunity to up-skill the sector in sustainable building
techniques to aid the achievement of this carbon target and other
environmental targets once construction picks up.
5. How will the changes to regional policy proposed
in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction
Bill and the potential effect on the work of SEEDA
5.1 With SEEDA taking the lead on drafting the
RS it is important that they are able to take a broad overview
of the planning process.
5.2 In particular we will look to SEEDA to take a
balanced approach to considering the content and policy direction
of the RS—giving equal weight to environmental, economic
and social considerations. Given the current climate there is
a real threat that by focusing too closely on economic growth
the region may miss the opportunity to emerge from the downturn
with a greener more cutting edge economy that is both prosperous
and competitive.
5.3 SEEDA must act to ensure that the reforms
do not result in future policy and/or investment priorities that
fail to protect the environment or maximise opportunities for
delivering genuinely sustainable development.
5.4 SEEDA will need to be equipped with the
necessary expertise to ensure that they can effectively discharge
their new planning responsibilities. These must not just "bolt
on" but be embedded in their business plan and integrated
throughout the entire organisation.
6. The role of other Government agencies such
as the Government Office for the South East, and of partnerships
between Government agencies, local government and the private
sector, in delivering the aims of the RES.
6.1 Our role is to work alongside our partners
and SEEDA in contributing to delivery against the targets set
out in the RES Implementation Plan. We achieve this by carrying
out our statutory duties and through the type of partnership working
described in paragraph 3.2.
6.2 At a strategic level we monitor progress
of the Implementation Plan through the RES Leadership Group. Our
role on the group is to advise on influencing opportunities and
to promote the environmental agenda. Our view is that the group,
perhaps like the plan, remains very close to SEEDA and lacks wider
regional representation. We would like to see it widened to draw
in other partners.
6.3 We have taken the lead in setting out the
environmental infrastructure needs across the South East for the
coming decades. This covers water supply, water quality, waste,
flood defence and biodiversity in particular. It is set against
a background of our State of the Environment reporting, which
contains the underpinning evidence for the delivery of a sustainable
RES.
7. How effective initiatives such as Business
Link are being in assisting businesses in the current climate,
including helping them to gain access to funding both from Government
funding streams and through the banking system
7.1 Our involvement with Business Link has been
through the local government sustainable business partnerships.
| 
