Richard Fuller MP spoke in the Environment Bill debate in the House of Commons today although the government has confirmed the Environment Bill will be carried over to the next parliamentary session due to exceptional pressure on the Parliamentary timetable as a result of Covid-19 which has reduced the amount of Parliamentary time available for the scrutiny of legislation.
Key work on implementing the Bill’s measures will continue at pace, including establishing the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), setting long-term legally-binding targets for environmental protection and creating a new Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers.
Legislative measures will be introduced to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age, ensuring we can deliver on the commitment to leave the natural world in a better condition than we found it. These will include meeting net-zero by 2050, as well as wider long-term legally binding targets on biodiversity, air quality, water, and resource and waste efficiency which will be established under the Bill.
The OEP is now expected to commence shortly after Royal Assent. This will have the power to take public bodies to an upper tribunal if there are breaches of the law. The OEP will be independent and fully transparent in order to effectively hold the Government to account on its targets.
Commenting on the OEP, Richard said: "I am pleased by assurances from Ministers that the OEP will be operationally independent from Government, including from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This means that Ministers will not be able to set its programme of activity or influence its decision-making."
Addressing the Commons, Richard stated his support for the Bill's ambitions and thanked his many constituents - farmers, school children, businesses and the local Time is Now group - for their discussions with him over the previous 12 months. The Bill provides the opportunity to create a greener and more sustainable country that is more sensitive to our natural habitat.
In his speech, Richard focused on the issues of biodiversity and housing, urging the Minister to listen to representations in particular from the CPRE and the RSPB, based in his constituency, about the importance of biodiversity being incorporated in legislation when it comes to the expansion of housing developments and new developments across the country.
Addressing the House of Commons, Richard said: "In North East Bedfordshire we look to have one of the fastest rates of growth in housing development, and it is crucially important that whatever the level of housing - and of course those numbers need to come down - that housing development takes into account the maintenance, encouragement and resilience of the biodiversity in our local communities."
He also urged the Minister to make sure that the government maintains the support and buy-in from the various constituents who are affected by those housing targets.
