Written evidence submitted by Dr Olaf Schroth
Executive summary
1st Recommendation: Transposing the Bird and Habitats Directive into UK law, e.g. under an amended Wildlife and Countryside Act.
2nd Recommendation: Implementation of Directive EU/2014/52 Revisions of the EIA process
3rd Recommendation: Keeping the core ideas of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), i.e.
4th Recommendation: Re-strengthening the climate change agenda.
I am lecturer in landscape planning at the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield, where I am teaching landscape planning including Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA). In response to the call, I would like to provide my expert view on the restructuring of the British agricultural policy in the light of the EU referendum. A change of British landscapes as we know it is quite likely because the European Union had a strong impact in shaping today’s landscapes in the UK through environmental legislation and subsidies. In the following, I will discuss three areas of potential impacts, i.e. environmental law, common agricultural policies, climate change and give my recommendations.
A lot of the current environmental law in the UK is based on EU Directives. The Bird and Habitats Directives for example protecting 500 wild bird species and around 1200 endangered other species, are based on the corresponding EU Directive. Depending on the outcome of the negotiation processes, these Directives might not apply to the UK anymore and the key question will be whether and how they will be replaced.
Recommendation 1: Transposing the Bird and Habitats Directive into UK law, e.g. under an amended Wildlife and Countryside Act.
In contrast, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (Directive 2011/92/EU) was already incorporated into British law. However, the EU member countries are currently implementing major revisions of the original EIA Directive. At the moment, the British government is continuing to implement these changes and preparing a public consultation process. Considering the weaknesses of the current EIA process and considering the revisions are supposed to be implemented by 2017, i.e. while the UK is still a member of the EU, I strongly suggest continuing and completing the implementation of the EIA revisions.
Recommendation 2: Implementation of Directive EU/2014/52 Revisions of the EIA process Potential landscape change as a result of the EU referendum might be significant over the next decades and will present major challenges for post Brexit countryside policy and management. New planning instruments at the landscape scale are needed. If such new instruments are introduced, they must promote public participation because our landscape can only be maintained with local support.
Recommendation 3: Keeping the core ideas of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), i.e.
75% of the UK’s total land area is agricultural land and arguably, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has an even bigger impact on European landscapes than European environmental legislation. The current CAP acknowledges the “stewardship” concept and rewards biodiversity enhancement, water quality, flood risk management and general landscape stewardship through incentives although these add up to only £600m out of £3bn in CAP incentives in total. Environmental groups even argue that the CAP has contributed to the significant loss of biodiversity due to setting the wrong priorities and favouring the intensification of agriculture.
On August 12th, chancellor Hammond announced that the Treasury will guarantee to continue agricultural funding now provided by the EU until 2020. That is a good first signal but British farmers rely on long-term commitments. Please note that it had been the success of the British EU representatives that CAP incentives have increasingly been assessed against their common benefits. For restructured incentives for farmers after the end of CAP, I recommend the following principle:
Recommendation 3: Incentives for farmers are coupled to their benefits for the public, e.g. maintenance or improvement of landscape quality, biodiversity or access to the countryside. As other groups such as the Ramblers propose, “public money for public goods”.
Early during the Brexit discussion, academics as well as environmental groups expressed their concern that climate change targets might not be implemented so effectively if the UK left the EU. In this context, it seems unfortunate that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was abolished and moved to a new Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The landscape scale is key in the facilitation of climate resilience and preparing the UK for floods, droughts, heat waves and food shortages caused by climate change.
Recommendation 4: Re-strengthening the climate change agenda.
Learning from other Commonwealth countries
At the moment, the specific impacts of the EU referendum are uncertain and will depend on mainly two factors: a) the nature of the future (economic) relationship with the EU, which the UK government will negotiate over the coming two years and beyond, and b) how the UK government will replace current European environmental legislation. Insights can come from countries abroad, e.g. New Zealand, which has already had to manage its way through dramatic changes in agricultural policy regimes related to the EU. The first took place in the 1970s when the UK entered the EU, and New Zealand’s agriculture faced major challenges as the UK market turned to Europe. At the time, New Zealand attempted to adjust by subsidising its agriculture to stimulate production, but with dire economic and environmental consequences. A second change took place in the 1980s when subsidies and tariffs were removed and farmers had to adjust rapidly to an open global market by specializing and increasing efficiency. A third change is happening now as fluctuations in global markets have stimulated rapid intensification for dairy production. Each of these episodes has had cumulative effects on landscape character and quality, which vary by region.
September 2016