- Conference
- 2025 Water, Environment & Transport Conference
- Date
- 14 February 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the Government’s Growth Duty requires specific regulators to consider the potential impact of their activities and decisions on economic growth for the wider UK economy, alongside their other statutory duties. All government departments, including Defra and the Environment Agency (EA), are now subject to the Growth Duty.
On 28 December 2024, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves wrote to the UK’s main regulators, asking them to propose reforms aimed at boosting economic growth. As a union, we must ensure that the government’s growth agenda does not negatively affect working people. Therefore, protecting our members’ working conditions must remain a priority.
Notably, Environment Agency Chief Executive Philip Duffy responded to the Prime Minister’s letter to regulators with commitments around increased data transparency, regulatory reforms and changes to land use planning, among others.
As the largest union in the Environment Agency, UNISON must stand up for our members by making the case that these commitments may result in increased workloads, staff burnout, and compromised regulatory effectiveness. Furthermore, without adequate funding and the necessary resources, the EA may struggle to meet these goals, placing additional strain on its workforce and our members, and undermining their vital work of upholding environmental protections.
Therefore, UNISON believes the push for economic growth under the Growth Duty potentially risks weakening of vital environmental regulations, based on the flawed assumption that weaker regulations foster growth. This approach could have far-reaching and harmful consequences for the UK environment, undermining efforts to combat climate change, protect biodiversity, and achieve nature recovery.
Conference calls upon the WET Service Group Executive to work through the EA Sector to:
1)Campaign for the decoupling of the Growth Duty from UK environmental regulators to safeguard critical environmental protections.
2)Engage with MPs, campaigners and other stakeholders as needed to highlight the dangers of aligning environmental regulation with economic growth objectives.
3)Commission a report or paper, similar to Clean Water: A Case for Public Ownership, providing a clear and evidence-based argument for maintaining the independence of environmental regulators from growth-focused policies.
4)Advocate for robust environmental regulations and policies that prioritise addressing climate change and safeguarding biodiversity over economic growth.