How Green Is My Region?

England’s regions are not getting to grips with environmental problems such as climate change, a new study commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Friends of the Earth England and WWF-UK has revealed (12 July).
However the report, ‘How Green Is My Region?’ concludes that it is the Government’s approach to economic development that makes it difficult for regional bodies to develop eco-friendly policies [1].
The study, which is the first independent assessment of the environmental policies of all the English regions, found:

• Regions which attempt to pursue more eco-friendly development strategies are prevented by the need to conform to environmentally-damaging national policies. For example, the aim of reducing the amount of road traffic in the East of England was removed from the final regional plan by Government. One interviewee told researchers: ‘…the dead hand of Government creeps in all the time’.


• Conflicting national policies, such as reducing climate changing emissions whilst meeting the demand for more air travel, make it even harder for the regions to make positive changes because good policies are undermined by other contradictory policies.


• Liberal use of the word ‘sustainable’ – over one thousand times - in regional economic strategies reflects a superficial approach to environmental challenges. The word is often attached to activities that are anything but sustainable. For example, the East of England Development Agency’s Regional Economic Strategy refers to the ‘sustainable airport expansion in the region.’


• Sub regional policies tend to be developed in a bottom up horse-trading manner with local councils often competing for prestige projects and funding within regions regardless of the environmental consequences. This tends to lead to sub regional policies which are even less environmentally sustainable than the region-wide policies.


• Wide variation in the quality of independent assessments into environmental impact of regions policies


• That there is no way of checking the combined, cumulative effect of the nine regions’ strategies and policies. For instance if each region pursues damaging air travel and road travel growth what doe s this mean for resource use, loss of wildlife and biodiversity and climate change emissions across England?

The environmental groups are calling on the Government to devolve real powers to Regional Assemblies to pursue environmentally sustainable development.

Amanda Brace, CPRE Senior Regional Campaigner, said:

“Real efforts have been made in England’s regions to have policies that protect the countryside and improve our environment but these are often thwarted by inconsistent national Government policies or because the Regional Assemblies don’t actually have the powers to deliver their own policies.”

Paul de Zylva, Head of Friends of the Earth England, said:

“A few good environmental policies do not disguise that the overall approach is geared towards environmentally damaging development for short term economic gain.”

Rod Stern, WWF Head of Communities and Cities, said:
“Conflicting directives from Westminster such as climate change vs. airport expansion have set regional agencies and strategies at odds with each other, hampering delivery on the ground and the shift towards one planet living.”