The environment agency and regulation towards sustainable development

The increase in public concern for the environment has been reflected in recent legislative changes, such as the implementation of provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and more recently with the introduction of the Environment Act 1995, which includes provision for the fomiation of the Environment Agency predominantly from the National Rivers Authority, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution and Local Government waste regulation authorities. The Agency, once formed, will be the largest single body regulating the environment in Europe and appears as such to hold the hopes of environmental pressure groups and the public in terms of its ability to improve the quality of the environment. The Government has gone about providing the Agency with support in achieving sound environmental protection by providing it with powers to prevent pollution and requiring it to perform duties, such as enforcing the conditions of the authorisations and licences it issues and monitoring its performance. The Government has also given the Agency principal aims and objectives and one of them is to work towards achieving sustainable development. The appropriate carrying out of its duties and working towards this goal will be fundamental task for Agency managers and good policy will be required to provide them with the tools to perform well. This dissertation aims to determine the most appropriate strategy for the Agency's policy makers to consider using in enforcing pollution control legislation and carrying out its duties in order to work towards achieving sustainable development. The research looks at how the Agency can decide what environmental indicators it should use so that progress towards sustainable development can be measured and how it can influence resource usage. It also aims to identi' how the Agency can provide charging incentives to polluting activities which afford better pollution abatement and more cost effective regulation. Finally, since the Agency's decision making processes need to be transparent, also included are suggested areas of policies on enforcement and examples of good regulatory practice currently in use by those regulatory bodies coming together to form the Agency.