Elliot Morley’s keynote address at the IPPR North Conference:
“environmental justice – national policy priorities and the way forward” on 8th September 2005, Quayside Exchange Sunderland
Thank you Sue and welcome ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to start by congratulating IPPR for organising this event. This is an important issue and it’s one which I think needs considerable discussion. I think there is enormous potential in terms of delivering our social and environmental objectives with the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, social and economic.
environmental justice itself is a term interpreted in various ways, as you have considered in your discussion this morning. So I will say what I mean by its minimum interpretation, which is that environmental justice would exist where access to minimum environmental standards such as drinkable water, clean air and green space are guaranteed. And these should be reached for everyone, present and future generations, not only in the UK but also internationally as social justice is a global issue, and environmental justice is a global issue as well as a national one.
Now that’s the starting point, as social justice and environmental justice is a much more complex concept and it can be more sophisticated in its delivery. So what we need is a strategy for bringing everyone together to pursue environmental justice, and that has to be within the sustainable development framework. You are probably aware that the Government recently launched its Sustainable Development Strategy, Securing the Future.
The overall goal of Sustainable Development is to enable people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations. The Government seeks co-ordinated action, internationally, nationally and locally. I will talk briefly about some of the problems, and some of the progress, nationally and locally. Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to announce a review we are launching which will help to identify obstacles to effective environmental enforcement to limit environmental offending and damage within communities. That is sometimes down to the legal and structural enforcement side, which is why I said the whole issue of environmental justice.
Sustainable Development Strategy
Securing the Future states the Government’s priorities, which are:
· moving to sustainable consumption and production;
· addressing climate change, which is obviously one of the biggest threat;
· natural resource protection and enhancing the environment; and
· creating sustainable communities – and that is very important in relation to the communities we live in.
Underlying the Strategy is a belief that there need be no conflict between the access to jobs and services needed for wider social justice, and a sustainable economy providing a decent environment. Again I know that is one of the themes that came up this morning. I do not see a contradiction between having the cost benefits of economic growth, people having jobs, people meeting their desires and their potential and having a good environment. It is about sustainability. That includes a sustainable economy and that is something we should be working towards.
The Strategy focuses the greatest effort on the biggest problems. And of course I have said preventing dangerous climate change is one of them and it is the overriding environmental challenge of the age. Climate change is some ways is very symbolic of the whole issue of environmental justice.
Climate change / inequalities
Climate change will impact on society, economy and environment. And these impacts are also likely to fall disproportionately upon developing countries and on poor people everywhere, making existing inequalities worse - in health, and access to adequate food, clean water and other resources.
It is the poorest who are often most vulnerable to the rising sea levels that threaten coastal areas - even entire island nations. By the 2080s the annual number of people at risk from coastal flooding because of surges could increase from 10 million to 80 million, with around half the increase in the poorest parts of Asia.
Closer to home, the elderly and more vulnerable members of society were most affected by the unusually hot weather across Europe in 2003, which is estimated to have given rise to perhaps 30,000 deaths on mainland Europe – many of those were the elderly and the poor.
Now we are taking action nationally and internationally to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are reviewing the UK Climate Change Programme, looking at how existing policies are performing, and what future measures might be needed. The revised programme will plan to publish before the end of the year.
Overall I am very glad to say, particularly in recent years, the UK’s overall environment is improving in terms of things like air quality and water quality. But environmental quality can vary, and people who are already socially and economically disadvantaged often live in the worst environments. The most deprived suffer the worst air quality, have less access to green space or adequate housing. These problems can affect people’s health, limit their opportunities to improve their lives, and undermine efforts to improve neighbourhoods. To give you some startling examples -
Eight times more people in the most deprived 10% of the population live in tidal floodplains than the least deprived 10%.
And people in the most deprived 10% of areas in England experience the worst air quality, and 41% higher concentrations of nitrogen dioxide from transport and industry than the overall national average - though the general air quality has improved.
Air quality
Poor air quality is a cause of respiratory illness and deaths particularly amongst vulnerable groups. Emissions from road transport are, we know, the main contributor to poor air quality in our urban areas.
An Evaluation of the Government’s Air Quality Strategy shows our policies have already achieved large cuts in air pollution with significant benefits to health. By 2001 an estimated 4,225 premature deaths a year were avoided by policies to reduce emissions from road transport and the electricity supply sector.
Local authorities are also working towards the Air Quality Strategy’s national targets, as part of their statutory duties.
And we are exploring what more we can do. In particular, we are reviewing the Air Quality Strategy to identify potential new measures, and actively negotiating on air quality in Europe.
Cleaner, safer, greener
People living in deprived areas are just as concerned about their environment as anyone else – and I’ve met many people living when I’ve been travelling the country in disadvantaged communities and I’ve been listening to the concerns they have. I believe that we are now making significant strides to improving local environments, and addressing inequalities, through a variety of action since the publication of Living Places – Cleaner, Safer, Greener in 2002.
The long decline in parks and green spaces, for example, is being arrested. The quality of spaces is starting to improve – witnessed by record numbers of Green Flag Award winners and increasing public satisfaction with green space.
In CABE Space there is now a national champion for public spaces, providing advice and enabling support for local authorities and others to improve the quality of green spaces and streets.
The Safer and Stronger Communities Fund, worth £660m over three years includes a requirement to improve the quality of public spaces. I might also add that competent land and sustainable urban drainage is a way of building in green space, giving users recreation areas as well as space for water to drain away.
And there are already many programmes which provide models for environmental regeneration in disadvantaged areas. The Countryside Agency oversees “Doorstep Greens”, a programme helping 200 communities to improve their quality of life by creating or enhancing green spaces near people's homes.
We often think that the problem with green space is an urban one but it isn’t. I know from the parts of my constituency that in many cases people in rural areas have less access to green space than people in urban areas because most of the land is agricultural. At New Herrington, not far from here, the Square Route Group have led the creation of a fantastic Doorstep Green in the centre of their village. They got the cars off, and under control, and drew in half a million pounds to complete the job, from the Countryside Agency, Big Lottery Fund, English Partnerships, Sunderland City Council, BiffAward, Northern Rock Foundation and the Home Office. A whole range of fund streams are available and I accept that it might be rather confusing. And I also accept that you have got to have community at the heart of that programme. Feeding into the issues and how funding should be used, in terms of designing and delivering the programme.
The Community Forests are national exemplars of environmental regeneration, creating cleaner, safer, greener environments in and around some of our major towns and cities. Over half England’s population, including many of our most disadvantaged communities, live in or within easy reach of a Community Forest. The Forestry Commission works with the twelve Community Forests to help maintain the partnership between Government and 58 local authorities across England. Community forests have been used very effectively in former coalfield areas, as part of regeneration.
And we believe communities can play an important role. We have given sustained support for Groundwork UK, who have helped local people transform their spaces into valuable amenities.
In Willington, County Durham, the Willington Community Partnership have worked closely with Groundwork to turn a derelict riverside meadow into a route for local people, with well-managed wet woodland areas, re-naturalised stream banks and wildflowers. The site has been made safe and welcoming.
Environmental crime
But we shouldn’t also forget the whole issue of environmental justice relates to the quality of life where people live and that is in people’s neighbourhoods. And that adheres to the whole issue of litter, graffiti, fly-tipping and the whole quality of life in those areas.
Local authorities called for more, better, and easier to use ways to deal with local environmental offenders. We have answered with the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, which has recently become law.
The great challenge now is to use the new powers - and existing measures - to their maximum potential against the blighting of neighbourhoods by such as fly-tipping, graffiti, fly-posting, litter and noise pollution.
This year, Defra has allocated £2 million from additional landfill tax receipts to the Environment Agency to help them tackle fly-tipping. That money comes from landfill tax and an extra £800 million from landfill tax revenues will go to local authorities over the next three years.
People have also been emphatic about the need to deal with graffiti and fly-posting. Fly posters for the latest gig routinely spoil city centres. The Act builds on the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 and will strengthen local authority powers to deal more effectively with this ugly behaviour. In fact one of the London Boroughs actually took an ASBO out against the chief executive of Sony because the posters were linked with music groups that were linked to Sony and it meant that the posters going up in the area the chief executive he would be held legally responsible. It demonstrates that in the past many large corporations have hidden behind others and have not been held to account for actions there were responsible for.
The Act will also greatly improve powers against litter. Local authorities will be able to restrict the distribution of handouts that can end up as litter; require people and businesses to clear litter from their land; and even deal with things like cigarette butts and chewing gum which shouldn’t be underestimated in terms of their impact on the community.
The Act also allows local authorities greater flexibility in dealing with noise nuisance and powers to gate off nuisance alleyways.
The 'How to' programme launched earlier this year is committed to helping practitioners at all levels to make effective use of new and existing resources and powers, and to share experience of what works.
And all these approaches will help to improve the environment in the most disadvantaged areas, and generally.
Review of Environmental Enforcement
Now as the Sustainable Development Strategy stresses, it is as important for us to encourage positive behaviour as it is to crack down on serious environmental offences. But we still need effective enforcement. And the question is whether the penalties and the sanctions for environmental crime have been effective.
A lot of people believe that they don’t do enough to change environmentally destructive behaviour for the better. They fail to make offenders carry the burden of repairing significant environmental damage; and all too often fail to deliver any other effective sanction. I have been appalled recently at the fines for people who have been involved in the collection and disposal of toxic hazardous waste illegally. Without licences, without regulation. Now this has become very big business. The disposal of waste has become more expensive and deliberately so – because we want to encourage reuse and recycling. We want to move away from landfill. We want to get people to move away from disposing of waste and to look at ways of to reuse it. We want that to help develop a professional and skilled waste management industry which we are beginning to see emerge. But for those people being involved in it illegally there are very big profits to be made. And some of the fines that people receive for breaking the regulation do not reflect the fact that this is a hazardous and specialist activity.