Environment Act

The Environment Act, based on the Environment Bill originally published in July of 2018, then due to Brexit had its first reading not until January of 2020, with further delays for a year, the adjusted bill finally received royal assent on November 9 2021. The act is important because it replaces many aspects that were covered by European law prior to Brexit and that no longer apply to the UK. The general aims of the act remain being to reduce landfill, improve air and water quality, and protect wildlife, though there continues to be some criticism regarding its level of protection with Friends of the Earth saying it represented a reduction in protections, rather than an increase and Client Earth saying it left a critical gap in halting deforestation. The act also included establishing the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).

The Act itself is broken into seven sections

• Parts 1 and 2: Environmental governance, principles, targets and improvement plans - including the details about the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).
• Part 3: Waste and resource efficiency - powers to prevent the export of plastic waste to developing countries, greater producer responsibility to reduce and deal with end of life waste, charges single-use plastics, standardising of waste collection and recycling, electronic waste tracking and deposit return schemes (DRS).
• Part 4: Air quality and environmental recall - though no targets were included PM2.5 targets are likely to debated.
• Part 5: Water - Whilst detail is not included, requirements to minimise adverse impacts of discharges from storm overflows by water companies is.
• Part 6: Nature and biodiversity - various initiatives to target nature recovery, woodland protection, species conservation, deforestation, due diligence and importantly, mandatory 10% biodiversity net gain requirements for new developments with details to follow.
• Part 7: Conservation covenants - to create private and voluntary agreements including responsible agencies to protect natural environment as assets for the public good.

See also the article Biodiversity net gain and related terminologies explained.

For more information visit: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/30/enacted

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

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