Better regulation
20 March 2012
Making it easier for people to do the right thing for the natural environment.
Natural England’s ambitious improvement programme: (76kb)
puts customer needs at the heart of the benefits we are achieving for the natural environment.
Since April 2011, the Government has been looking at how it can maintain environmental protection whilst making it simpler and cheaper for people by removing unnecessary costs.
In line with the Government’s regulatory reform agenda, we have worked with stakeholders and Government on plans to ensure that our advisory, consenting and licensing services are more efficient and customer-orientated, and that integration with other Government services is improved where possible.
These reforms will ensure that protection of the natural environment remains at the heart of what we do, at a time when biodiversity loss, climate change and demand for space to live and grow food are all increasing – while making it easier for our customers to engage with us.
Our improvement plan will continue to evolve as further Government announcements are made, including the outcomes of the Habitats Directive Implementation Review and the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework.
We will publish statistics and reports to document our progress over the coming months.
If you wish to comment, please use our feedback form.
Related articles
- Environment protected and business boosted by cutting unnecessary red tape
Red Tape Challenge announcement (Defra) - Autumn Statement 2011 (HM Treasury)
- Penfold Review of non-planning consents (BIS)
- National Infrastructure Plan 2011 (HM Treasury)
Principles for better regulation
The Hampton Review set out some key principles that should be consistently applied by all public bodies with regulatory functions. This includes Natural England.
The Better Regulation Executive (BRE), part of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), has defined five key principles of regulation, which are now a cornerstone of the way that public bodies should use their regulatory powers.
Natural England will follow the five principles and will be:
- consistent: in the way that regulation is undertaken
- proportionate: a balanced, tiered approach will be applied to enforcement incidents
- transparent: customers should be encouraged to comply with the law, and will understand what action we will take if the law is breached
- accountable: we will adhere to the principles above and justify our choice of regulatory action, publishing both outputs and outcomes
- targeted: risk assessment should be used to concentrate resources in the areas that need them most. Those customers that regularly comply will benefit from ‘light touch’ regulation.
In addition, the Government has published a statutory code of practice for regulators, The Regulators’ Compliance Code. The Code came into force in England in April 2008.
