Sadiq Khan accuses ministers of stalling over post-Brexit environment watchdog

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/26/sadiq-khan-accuses-ministers-of-stalling-over-post-brexit-environment-watchdog

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Sadiq Khan has accused ministers of stalling over the setting up of a new tough environmental watchdog body post Brexit.

The mayor of London spoke out as research by the country’s leading environmental bodies suggested protections to wildlife, water and air quality are under threat because of budget cuts of more than 55% over the last eight years.

Greener UK, a coalition of environmental groups, is joining Khan’s call for the government to set up a properly funded enforcement agency after Brexit, when the European commission will no longer have power to enforce laws on the environment in the UK.

They say agencies in the UK tasked with protecting the environment – Natural England and the Environment Agency – have been cut so much that the condition of the most beautiful and rare habitats in the UK are deteriorating, the quality of water in English rivers has plummeted and nearly half of local councils are failing to properly monitor and assess levels of toxic air because of pressures on their budgets.

New data revealed by Greener UK reveals that the water quality of England’s rivers has fallen from 29% judged to be in good health in 2014 to just 14% in good health today.

The government has committed to setting up a new environment watchdog in its 25-year plan and says it will put the plan out to consultation.

Khan said: “With a new Environment Act in place to refresh our outdated legislation, create a legal right to clean air and establish a fully independent and well-resourced watchdog. After finally announcing plans to set up this watchdog, the government is stalling yet again. Their dithering greatly increases the risk of ending up with a body without any teeth which will simply be used as another excuse for ministers’ lack of action on tackling the capital’s toxic air.”

The Environment Agency has seen cuts to its budget for environmental protection of 55%, from £113m in 2010/11 to £50m in 2016/17.

Natural England has had cuts of 60% from £263m in 2009/10 to £106m in 2016/17.

Greener UK said the cuts have coincided with a deterioration in the condition of some of the country’s most significant conservation sites.

SSSIs and SPAs, the protected sites for wildlife and its habitats, are in deteriorating health – with the percentage of SSSIs in favourable condition falling from 52.8% in 2009/10 to 50.7% in 2016/17. For SPAs the numbers in favourable health have dropped from 63% in 2009/10 to 56% in 2016/17, Greener UK says.

Greener UK said if the government was serious about introducing a world class watchdog body post-Brexit to maintain high environmental standards, it had to be adequately resourced.

“Without adequate resources the watchdog will undermine the government’s pledges on the environment and we will not be able to replace current, vital EU functions that provide the public with the facility to uphold environmental standards,” they said.