Policy paper

Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill 2018

The draft Environment Bill sets out how we will maintain environmental standards and build on the 25 Year Environment Plan. We've published a July 2019 update.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 19 December 2018
• Last updated: 23 July 2019 — See all updates

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Documents

Environment Bill summer policy statement: July 2019

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Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill 2018

Ref: PB14545

PDF, 2.61 MB, 79 pages

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Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill 2018 policy paper

Ref: PB14546

HTML

Statement of impacts

Ref: PB14547

PDF, 427 KB, 28 pages

Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill: Memorandum from Defra to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee

Ref: PB14549

HTML

Information paper on the policy statement on Environmental Principles

Ref: PB14550

PDF, 570 KB, 30 pages

Details

The draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill sets out how the government will maintain environmental standards as we leave the EU. It also details how we will build on the vision of the 25 Year Environment Plan.

This includes creating an independent body - the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) – which will:

• scrutinise environmental law and the government’s environmental improvement plan (EIP)
• investigate complaints on environmental law
• take enforcement action on environmental law

The broader Environment Bill will also include measures on air quality, nature recovery, waste and resource efficiency and water management.

July 2019 update

The July 2019 policy statement sets out where we are with the entire Environment Bill and the progress we’ve made since December 2018. It has been published as part of a package which includes a report on air quality and several consultation responses:

• Air quality: report assessing progress towards achieving WHO guideline levels in the UK
• Conservation covenants
• Improving our management of water in the environment
• Introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers (bottles and cans)
• Biodiversity net gain: updating planning requirements
• Packaging waste: changing the UK producer responsibility system for packaging waste
• Waste and recycling: making recycling collections consistent in England

Related links

Read the summary of responses to the developing environmental principles and accountability consultation.

Published 19 December 2018
Last updated 23 July 2019 + show all updates

1. 23 July 2019

   Added the July 2019 statement.

2. 19 December 2018

   First published.