Complaint to the Office for Environmental Protection

Failure to meet a legal requirement of the flagship 2021 Environment Act

The IFM was pleased to co-sign a letter to the newly established OEP relating to the government’s breach of its legal duty to lay the draft statutory instrument(s) on Environment Act targets in Parliament before the statutory deadline of 31 October 2022. The final complaint letter can be found here. The recent reply to this complaint from the OEP is to be welcomed. 

The OEP reply (below) notes that Defra laid the statutory instruments setting the long-term environmental targets (the targets regulations) on 19 December 2022. As a consequence they have determined that there is no merit in taking additional action in relation to the failure to comply with environmental law raised in our complaint. IFM will consult with Wildlife and Countryside Link and Green Alliance on detailed scrutiny of the now-published Environment Act targets to ensure the they provide the legal basis to underpin our mission to support and promote sustainable fisheries management for the benefit of our members, fisheries, wildlife and society.