The embedding of four environmental principles into Welsh law is a welcome move for rivers and could be seen as further divergence from the Westminster Government.
With a Senedd election coming next Spring, the progress of this Bill will be a test of all the parties’ environmental credentials.
Monday 2nd June, 2025
Huw Irranca-Davies, Wales’s Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, has introduced proposed new Welsh environmental legislation to the Senedd today.
The ‘Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill’ puts some well-established principles at the heart of environmental governance: prevention; precaution; rectification at source and the polluter pays.
Welsh Ministers and Natural Resources Wales will have a duty to apply these principles when formulating policies that affect the environment and delivering necessary enforcement against them. This is a welcome move that appears to be further divergence from the current direction of travel of the Westminster Government.
A long-overdue governance structure
The Bill will also create an “Office of Environmental Governance Wales (OEGW),” a statutory body similar to the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) in England, with the purpose of ensuring this and other environmental legislation is implemented correctly. This long overdue. Up until now, Wales has been the only UK country without such a body.
However, as other environmental organisations have pointed out, the new OEGW must be truly independent, be adequately resourced and have the necessary regulatory teeth to hold Welsh Government to account. Also, that there should be a duty on Ministers and officials to apply the environmental principles to all policy-making, not just that which affects the environment.
There has also been some concern that targets to reverse the drastic fall in Welsh biodiversity have not been included in the Bill and that this element of the legislation needs strengthening.
Test of political parties’ environmental credentials
Of course, with no overall Government majority in the Senedd, there is no guarantee that the legislation will be passed in its current form. And with an election coming next spring, its progress will be an excellent indicator of the importance of the environment to all the political parties in Wales.
It will be interesting to see how the polluter pays principle is implemented. Welsh rivers are facing a wide range of pollutants from multiple sources, not just the water industry and agriculture but also roads and landfill sites, which are the responsibility of central and local Government.
Also, if the rectification at source principle is to be adopted, how will Welsh Government deal with the high levels of pharmaceuticals, veterinary medicines and other chemicals that are currently found in rivers?
These are questions that will need to be addressed further down the line. For now, we can be broadly encouraged that Welsh Government is genuine about putting rivers and environment high up the political agenda.
As ever, however, the proof remains in the actions and outcomes for rivers and biodiversity in Wales.
More Information:
The Bill and its supporting documents are available in Welsh and English on the Senedd website.
Further documents: Environment (Principles Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill | GOV.WALES