The Corry Review was set up by Defra Secretary of State Steve Reed, in October last year to examine whether the inherited regulatory landscape is fit for purpose and to develop recommendations to ensure that regulation across the Department is driving economic growth while protecting the environment.
Today sees the publication of the Review’s findings and 29 recommendations for reforms and improvements to the way regulation is designed and implemented. We welcome the report as a vital step towards a fresh approach to regulation that delivers for growth and nature recovery at scale.
Natural England has led the way with new approaches to enabling growth while protecting nature such as District Level Licencing, the Thames Basin Heath Approach and the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme.
Many of the recommendations echo what we said to the review, reflect our practical experience and strongly align with our new strategy and our proposals for investment through the current Spending Review.
We’ve built a great relationship with Dan Corry and the review team, and we are ready for the next steps
We supported the review team with information about examples raised by others, made a joint site visit with the Area Team to Thames Basin Heaths to demonstrate the highly successful regulatory approach there to mitigate recreational disturbance to the SPA from new housing plus our case for nature recovery as an essential component of sustainable growth.
Many of our messages are picked up in the report and supported by the recommendations
We said:
- The need for nature regulation has arguably never been stronger; it will impact people and economy if we don’t halt nature decline. We need to address gaps in regulation to minimise costs and improve consistency between regulatory standards.
- Regulation must drive positive actions not simply stop negative ones. We need today’s regulation to be a driver of environmental change, given the nature needs of the future will not be the same as those of the past.
- Regulation needs to take effect at the scale of nature ecosystems – both to deliver the right outcomes, and to work efficiently in terms of resources. We should use our resources to tackle root causes, not multiple small cases.
- Regulation standards form the basis for private finance investment that could complement, or replace, some state funded incentive mechanisms. Regulation frameworks can stimulate green finance markets and private investment
What next?
- Planning for action – Natural England will be working closely with Defra and No10 to plan the next steps for delivering the recommendations.
2 comments
Comment by Rob Yorke posted on
from Defra's press release: "More autonomy: Trusted nature groups will benefit from new freedoms to carry out conservation and restoration work without needing to apply for multiple permissions at every step of a project"
I hope that "trusted nature groups" also includes groups of farmers/land managers within 'farmer clusters', Landscape Recovery Scheme collaboratives or similar collectives.
Especially as many of them are already, and quietly, getting on with nature recovery projects.
best wishes, Rob
Comment by Andrew Hunter posted on
Based on my experiences I would allege there have been occasions when NE have taken the precautionary principle too far in their responses to planning consultations. There certainly needs to be a re-think in applying this principle especially around the reasoning which to my mind needs to be a bit more objective.