Senedd Cymru is currently considering a bill which would set up a new environmental oversight body in Wales, the Office of Environmental Governance Wales (OEGW). Once established, this will join the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) and Environmental Standards Scotland, which perform similar functions in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

These bodies will work together to hold government ministers and public bodies to account on their compliance with environmental laws across the UK.

It is concerning that some public bodies will fall between the OEP and the OEGW’s jurisdiction, as where a public body is engaged in ‘reserved’ matters (a matter on which only the UK Parliament in Westminster can make legislation) but has breached Welsh environmental law, then neither the OEP nor the OEGW can intervene.

As this exchange of correspondence with the OEP shows, this includes a significant number of public authorities working across a range of sectors, including energy, transport, defence and crown land.

Given the large number of potential authorities involved, this is a serious accountability gap, which should be addressed in the Welsh legislation.

For more information, contact:
Ruth Chambers, senior fellow