A new government from a different political party has come to power in the UK and what they are proposing with regards to the environment is radically different to the past government. In this post therefore I thought it might be interesting to take a brief look at some of the key policies that are planned.
Great British Energy
Great British Energy –This will be a publicly owned body that will be headquartered in Scotland that will invest in renewable energy. It is being funded by £8.3 billion some of which will come from windfall tax on fossil fuel companies with the remainder coming from government borrowing. The key aims of Great British Energy will be:
- Cutting energy bills
- Boosting energy security
- Backing workers in industrial heartlands
- Profits going back to British people, and
- Support for local jobs and supply chains.
The new company will work with the private sector to double onshore wind, treble solar and quadruple offshore wind production in the UK by the end of the decade. Hedy targets indeed!
Renewable energy
Powers are proposed to allow the Crown Estate to raise money that can be invested. They own the seabed around the coast of the UK and auctioning off sites for renewable energy schemes, particularly offshore wind, is likely to give a major boost to the offshore wind sector. Additionally, no new licences to explore North Sea oil and gas fields will be issued.
Water companies
If you’re not aware of the problem with sewage in rivers in the UK take a look at this blog post I wrote as you can see it is a major public interest issue. Anyway, the new government is planning to tackle this problem by placing special measures and holding leaders to account for water companies in England who constantly pollute rivers with sewage. Powers will also be introduced to ban the payment of bonuses to water company executives if environmental standards are not met. Hitting companies/individuals in the pocket is sometimes more effective than command and control legislation.
Planning
The new government are going to introduce changes to the planning regime to allow the building of new affordable housing in large numbers (a big problem in the UK). This will take away red tape so that new housing can be built more rapidly. This was a problem that the previous government had, and the required housing did not get built in the numbers required largely due to local public opposition. Where things can be built and how can and often does have some major environmental implications.
Biodiversity
Nature has so far received limited coverage in the new government plans. Development is planned to be used as a means to fund nature recovery largely through biodiversity net gain (for example the Environment Act 2021 sets a requirement to deliver a minimum of 10% increase in biodiversity in comparison to the predevelopment biodiversity value). The new government has also committed to improving access to the natural environment by developing river walks and introducing three new national forests in England.
Final Note
At this very early stage the policies have not been mapped out in much detail so it will be interesting to see how they are implemented. Certainly, at this stage the intentions are admirable and commitments to environmental improvements are significant.
John Binns BSc (Hons) MSc MIEMA is an experienced environmental tutor and consultant.