Posted on: 4 June 2018
Environmental Law News Update
TweetIn this latest Environmental Law News Update, Christopher Badger considers the Mayor of London’s Environment Strategy, publication of CCS guidance from the Environment Agency, and new EU rules to reduce marine litter.
London Environment Strategy published
The Mayor of London has published the long-term green strategy for London. It’s a high level document, but the key headlines include:
The proposal for zero emission zones to be in place by 2020 has been brought forward by five years, prompting concerns that business fleets will not have sufficient time to change, although it will be open for business to apply for an exemption during peak times.
The Mayor of London has also published an Implementation Plan which is intended to set London-wide trajectories for quantitative targets. These include:
The Strategy is not without gaps. For example, no target is set for the implementation of tree and green cover to 2050 as this is described as opportunistic and reliant on the market. Significant increases in recycling performance is also required to meet the ambitions of the plan, another area where the Mayor of London has very limited direct powers and responsibilities. There is also little by way of concrete steps to address ambient noise.
The full Strategy can be found here
Environment Agency publishes CCS guidance
The Environment Agency has published guidance to its regulatory officers on how to record non-compliance with environmental permits using the Compliance Classification Scheme (“CCS”).
The Guidance sets out five key principles, on which we have set out a little more information derived from the document
The Guidance makes for interesting reading. It is intended to improve consistency in regulation, focus resources on activities that pose the greatest risk to the environment and ensure that subsistence charges reflect the work done by the Environment Agency with operators.
CCS is not used to record any problems at exempt facilities or any other offences that are not a breach of a permit condition.
The Guidance can be found here
New EU rules to reduce marine litter
On 28 May the European Commission proposed new EU-wide rules to target the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on Europe’s beaches and seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gear. Together these constitute 70% of all marine litter items.
The new rules will introduce:
Producers of plastic fishing gear will be required to cover the costs of waste collection from port reception facilities and its transport and treatment. They will also cover the costs of awareness-raising measures.
The Commission’s proposals will now go to the European Parliament and Council for adoption. Both have been urged to deliver tangible results before elections in May 2019.
We published May’s Environmental Law Video Newscast last week – a monthly round-up of the latest developments in environmental law.
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