Thank you for contacting me regarding the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill. The Welsh Conservatives support the introduction of this Bill but we believe that it does not currently go far enough.
Wales is the last of the UK nations to establish an environmental governance body. Although the Welsh Labour Government first committed to legislate to address the governance gap in 2018, legislation is only just being announced. As an interim measure, the Welsh Labour Government appointed an Interim Environmental Protection Assessor for Wales. The absence of a full replacement regime has prompted Wales Environment Link to suggest Wales now has “the weakest environmental governance structures in western Europe”.
In this time without a governance body, companies like Dŵr Cymru have been allowed to dump waste illegally for years, and Welsh waterways are some of the most polluted in the UK, it is clear that Labour have dropped the ball in protecting our waterways in Wales. In addition to this, a 2024 World Wildlife Fund report found that the wild global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish had dropped by 73% since 1970.
While we welcome the general principles of the Bill, we believe there are improvements to be made. Janet Finch-Saunder MS, Shadow Secretary for Climate Change and the Environment has continuously called for an Office of Environmental Governance for Wales, but the one presented in the current version of this Bill is not good enough. The independence of the new body needs to be improved; there should be a specific provision which requires Ministers to respect the independence of the body and the Senedd should have a greater role in the appointments to the OEGW board. The body should also be given explicit powers to co-operate with the equivalent bodies in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Welsh Conservatives will do our best to ensure that the Bill does not lead unnecessary extra regulation and unrealistic burdens for our farmers. There is a real risk that this new framework for nature targets could have a detrimental impact on our food security and for this reason we will be looking to include food production targets as part of the framework.
My Welsh Conservative colleagues and I will continue fighting for further environmental regulations to ensure Wales has the same standards as the rest of the UK.