01 Feb 2023

A recently published piece of analysis completed by Wildlife & Countryside LINK has found that the cost of dropping or weakening EU environmental laws in only 4 sectors could reach £82bn over 30 years. There are over 1000 laws in the Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill, so the real cost of weakened protections for nature […]

18 Jan 2023

Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan has called an article in The Times, headlined Beach sewage inspections to be scaled back, “factually inaccurate and misleading”. He was responding to a request for information from the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee, on the article’s claims that the Environment Agency has taken a decision […]

25 Jan 2022

How to regulate better after Brexit: Think differently, speak softly and carry a bigger stick Environment Agency Chief Executive Sir James Bevan’s speech at a Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum conference on future environmental standards. From the Guardian Staff blow whistle on Environment Agency that ‘no longer deters polluters’ Exclusive: Officers say cuts and […]

05 May 2021

Ofwat publishes Regulatory Accounting Guidelines for reporting of emissions From Ofwat In our ‘Consultation on regulatory reporting – Responses document’, and the accompanying Information Notice (IN 20/08), we provided notice of, and reasons for, changes relating to how we would like companies to report on their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for 2020-21. This document reiterates […]

05 May 2021

George Warren, Senior Policy Officer in Climate Change Adaptation & UK Susdrain SuDS Champion 2020 It’s all about small distributed #SuDS!!! Those whom know me will be familiar with me constantly banging on about the need to deliver small #SuDS at scale and how important it is that delivery organisations are able to unlock the […]

17 Mar 2021

From Water Briefing Greener UK – a coalition of the country’s leading green groups – has concluded that environmental protections in areas such as nature restoration and chemicals are either no stronger or weaker than they were pre-Brexit. Since 2017 Greener UK has tracked the strength of environmental standards as the UK takes back control […]

23 Feb 2021

Better regulation needed to protect environment and boost economy, says Environment Agency Chief Executive.  The Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, Sir James Bevan, is calling for a modern approach to regulation in order to protect air, land, and water from future threats, including the climate emergency. Sir James’ appeal comes as the UK contemplates […]

26 Aug 2020

Wildlife & Countryside Link / Blue Print for Water: Recently, you spoke of “thoughtful reform” of the Water Framework Directive regulations to deliver “even better outcomes”. In light of growing public concern about water pollution, over-abstraction of sensitive rivers and streams, and serious ongoing shortcomings in water quality, any weakening of Water Framework Standards would […]