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NI Environment Agency is a cynical re-badging of EHS

Today's re-badging of DOE Environment and Heritage Service as the Northern Ireland Environment Agency was described as 'cynical and cosmetic' by Friends of the Earth which is campaigning for an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This morning's launch [1] by Environment Minister Sammy Wilson follows the decision by his predecessor Arlene Foster not to create an independent Environmental Protection Agency. Instead, Mrs Foster decided to re-name DOE Environment and Heritage Service the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA):

Lisa Fagan of Friends of the Earth said:

"This re-badging is a cynical and expensive exercise. The NI Environment Agency will be part of DOE, answerable to the Minister and subject to political interference. But its name may lead the unsuspecting to believe that it is an independent agency, like those elsewhere in the UK and Ireland."

She explained that Mrs Foster's stated ambition of creating 'clear blue water' between the policy maker and regulator [2] cannot be achieved under the arrangements which come into effect today:

"The separation of policy-making from environmental regulation is the hallmark of good governance. But Planning and Environmental Policy Group and the NI Environment Agency are both within DOE and are directed by the same Minister. This re-branding exercise is intended to create the illusion of clear blue water where there is none."

Friends of the Earth set out the structural shortcomings of the NIEA:

* The NIEA is an Executive Agency within DOE, just as its predecessor Environment and Heritage Service was: there is no change in status.

* The two independent Board members, yet to be appointed, will not make the regulator independent. They will be a minority voice on the Board, which is still under the direction of the Minister.

* The NIEA will not be able to take a different opinion to the Department in which it sits. For example, it will not be able to challenge a decision made by DOE Planning Service.

* The NIEA will not be free to intervene to ensure that other Government Departments and their agencies deliver on Government's environmental commitments. For example, it cannot challenge the Executive's Investment Strategy which devotes only 19% of transport spending to public transport.

* The NIEA will not be free to take legal advice in the public interest without the support of the Minister.

* The NIEA will not be free to take legal challenges in the public interest without the support of the Minister.

* The NIEA is not an independent consultative body as required by the European Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive and cannot therefore provide independent advice on the environmental impacts of Area Plans, as required by the Directive [3].

* The agency-wide Environmental Crime Unit is not a new idea: it appears in the Executive's Budget. While it is to be welcomed, it ought to sit inside an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Ms Fagan concluded that the case for independence remains as strong as ever:

"Of course, we will work with the NIEA as we did with EHS. But the lack of independence means that the re-badged organisation faces the same barriers to effective environmental protection as did its predecessor. Mrs Foster promised a review of the organisation's performance in 2011 [4] but we would encourage the Executive to bring forward the review so it runs in parallel with reform of Government Departments and Local Authorities."

Notes

[1] (back) The Northern Ireland Environment Agency will be launched at 0900 today at Carrickfergus Castle by Environment Minister Sammy Wilson MP, MLA.

[2] (back) In her statement on Environmental Governance, the then Environment Minister Arlene Foster MLA said: "I want to see clear blue water between the role of the core Department as policy-maker and legislator and the role of the environment agency as protector, regulator and enforcer." Read the full statement.

[3] (back) On 7 September 2007, Justice Weatherup found in a judicial review of the Northern and Magherafelt Area Plans that DOE Environment and Heritage Service (the consultative body) did not satisfy the legal requirement for independent environmental assessment because it was not independent of DOE Planning Service (the plan-making body). Government is appealing Justice Weatherup's judgement.

[4] (back) Ministerial Statement on Environmental Governance, 27 May 2008: