North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has questioned the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs this week over the effect of Brexit on environment policy.
Speaking in the Chamber on Wednesday, he said:
“Clearly, the environment knows no borders or boundaries. What is the Welsh Government’s view on the form of enforcement mechanism that will be required at a UK level for environment policy after we leave the EU?
“Evidence to the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee from Aberystwyth University refers to discussions about the creation of a UK Environment Court. A representative from the University of York said, ‘Whether or not it needs to be an Environmental Court, I’m not quite sure… but if I were a lawyer, I’d be sitting here saying, “No, we need a new court”.”
The Cabinet Secretary replied: “I haven’t looked into the issue of a court in great detail. I’m actually meeting Andrea Leadsom (UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) tomorrow, so it’s certainly something I can discuss. We’ve been very clear that the powers that have been devolved to this place since 1999 will be here. They may go into the (Great) Repeal Act initially, but any powers will then come to us for us to have our own environmental policies going forward.”