The government must improve pay and resourcing or it won’t fix the problems identified by the Office for Environmental Protection

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has today published a report setting out how  the government is failing on its goals to improve England’s natural environment.

 

OEP’s annual progress report concluded that the government’s flagship 25 Year Environment Plan “has so far failed to bring about the changes needed at the pace and scale required”, adding that the strategy “lacked clarity and commitment”.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, responded:

“Prospect has been warning for years now that a lack of adequate funding for environmental regulators would lead to negative consequences for the UK environment. This report highlights those consequences and the failure of the government to meet even its own targets.

“Agencies like Natural England and the Environment Agency as well as areas like marine science have been underfunded for more than a decade. It has led to a huge loss of skills and capacity with worker morale at an all-time low and agencies at breaking point.

“If the government doesn’t sort out pay and resourcing now there is no way it is going to be able to reverse the conclusions of this devastating report.”