Natural England welcomed today’s announcement by Defra of changes that will allow it to tackle breaches of environmental regulation in a more flexible manner than it has been able to do under existing legislation.

Natural England has enforcement responsibilities in a number of areas, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest, heather and grass burning, breaches of certain wildlife licences, breaches of the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations, and damage caused by injurious weeds.

To date, the only sanctions available to Natural England to tackle breaches of the regulations in these areas were either to issue warning letters, cautions or to proceed to full criminal prosecution.

Under the changes being announced today, Natural England has been granted a wider range of enforcement powers to help “fill the gap” between these two sanctions. By providing an alternative to prosecution these changes will enable regulators to match the strength of sanctions to the gravity of the offence, and to better reflect the fact that most breaches of environmental law are unintentional.

The new enforcement powers mean that in the future, Natural England will be authorised to halt illegal activities, to order the restoration of environmental damage and to impose fines where legislation has been breached. The Environment Agency has also given a broader range of enforcement powers in the areas of environmental regulation that it looks after.

Dr Tim Hill, Natural England’s Director of Regulation and Access, said: “We welcome the greater levels of flexibility these changes will provide which will help remove some of the difficulties regulators have faced in responding to breaches of environmental regulations. We have no interest in acting disproportionately against minor infringement; nor is it right that no action is taken against offences because there has not been the appropriate level of sanction to deal with them. These changes will help ensure that we can fine-tune the actions needed to protect the environment without imposing unnecessary burdens on those we regulate, the vast majority of whom seek to abide by the law.”

Before the new sanctions can be used, Natural England will undertake a three-month consultation on policy and guidance. Details of the consultation will be announced in due course.

Dr Hill concluded: “These powers recognise our consistent, proportionate and accountable approach to regulation, for which we were commended in the Hampton review. We will work hard to uphold these principles in protecting and enhancing the natural environment and look forward to a wide-ranging consultation to take account of as wide a range of views as possible.”