European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils | Bodies

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP)

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP)
Room 108
55 Whitehall
London SW1A 2EY
United Kingdom
Tel. + 44 20 7270 8159
Fax + 44 20 7270 8303
www.rcep.org.uk

Past Priority Fields

Urban Environment

In the UK, a high standard of local urban environmental quality is characterised by clean, safe attractive streets, and parks and open spaces where people feel at ease. Policy for the urban environment is formulated by central and devolved governments but it falls to local authorities to deliver local urban environmental quality to its communities.

The study considers UK policies and the situations they address. This work has identified 4 priority themes: sustainable urban transport; sustainable urban management (Local Agenda 21, EMAS, indicators); sustainable urban construction (resource and energy efficiency, demolition waste, design issues); and sustainable urban design (land use-regeneration, brown field sites, urban sprawl, land use densities). The overall goal of the European Strategy is to improve environmental efficiency of urban areas and the quality of life of urban citizens.

The report, The Urban environment was published in March 2007.

Pesticides and their health effects

The Commission announced in June 2004 that it was to undertake a special study on pesticides and bystander exposure. On 3 August it officially commenced its call for evidence and invited parties to submit information and views in response to the intended scope of the study.

The commission examined the scientific evidence on which the UK government has based its decision on bystander exposure and its policy on access to information on crop spraying. The study considered wider issues related to the handling and communication of risk and uncertainty, as well as public involvement, values and perceptions in this context. The study "Crop Spraying and the Health of residents and Bystanders", was published in September 2005.

Environmental effects of marine fisheries

In June 2002, the Royal Commission announced its new study into the environmental effects of marine fisheries, the serious concerns that they raise and how these might best be addressed. The study commenced in February 2003.

Fisheries are, in the view of many, one of the major causes of damage to the marine environment but the extent, and even the existence, of such damage is disputed. This is an opportune time to consider the wide environmental consequences of fisheries. Technological advances and economic pressures have led to an intensification of fishing, which has the potential to wreak as much damage on the oceans as intensive agriculture has on land. With agriculture we asked the wrong question - how to maximise the production of food, instead of looking at the wider functions of the rural environment, with their rich inter-dependencies. We must try to ensure that the problems with intensive fisheries are addressed so that the marine environment also has a sustainable future.

The Commission's study of the environmental effects of marine fisheries is being conducted in two stages: first to scope the topics to be included in the Study and second to seek evidence and reach conclusions. The scoping stage commenced in June 2002; the request for evidence was issued in February 2003. The report was published in December 2004.

Biomass as a renewable energy source

The Royal Commission undertook a limited study of the use of biomass for heat and power production. This study was published in May 2004.

The Commission analysed the various forms of renewable energy in its Twenty-second Report ‘Energy – The Changing Climate’. The biomass study investigated developments in biomass energy since the Twenty-second report, exploring the introduction of new technology and the extent to which government energy policy has provided an appropriate incentive for its introduction. The focus was on biomass (including energy crops, forestry materials and municipal arisings), as a source of heat and power particularly through their use in CHP (combined heat and power) plants. The use of crops to produce transport fuels (e.g. biodiesel) was not covered by this study.

Long-term effects of chemicals in the environment

The Commission's Twenty-fourth Report Chemicals in Products - Safeguarding the Environment and Human Health was published on 26 June 2003. At the heart of the Commission's concerns were some 30,000 chemicals which are used in the European Union but have never been subject to any comprehensive testing on the risks they pose to humans and ecosystems. The report focused on chemicals used in products which can gradually find their way into the environment and people's bodies. The accompanying the report launch emphasised the need to reduce the risks from chemicals.

Environmental effects of civil aircraft in flight

The Royal Commission published a limited study into the environmental effects of air transport, focusing on civil aircraft in flight, on 29 November 2002 in advance of the government's White Paper on Air Transport. The Commission re-examined its previous work in this area and considered some new areas, building also on the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Aviation and the Global Climate. The study concentrated on the environmental problems associated with aircraft in flight. At the time, the Commission issued its response to the government's consultation on the future development of air transport.

Other topics of interest to the Royal Commission in the past are best highlighted by the subjects of the detailed studies leading to its major Reports. These are indicated in the list of publications given in the next section.

The breadth of topics investigated by the Commission is shown also in its Responses to Consultations and its Statements. Examples of subjects of consultations or statements issued recently are:
• Sustainable food and farming – June 2002
• DETR/MAFF Consultation on the Planning Green Paper – March 2002
• The Policy Commission on Farming and Food – October 2001
• DEFRA’s aims and objectives – September 2001
• The joint DETR/MAFF Draft Soil Strategy for England – June 2001
• House of Lords inquiry on the EU Chemicals White Paper – May 2001
• Building Regulations – April 2001
• DETR Consultation on the Future of Aviation – April 2001
• Renewables Obligation Preliminary Consultation – December 2000
• Response to OFGEM’s Discussion Paper Environmental Action Plan – October 2000
• Building Regulations Energy Efficiency Provisions – September 2000
• Renewable energy policy - July 2000
• Road fuel pricing - July 2000
• Sustainable Development Commission - October 1999
• National Air Quality Strategy - October 1999
• Climate Change Levy - June 1999
• Overseeing developments in biotechnology (GMOs) – February 1999
• Sustainability (February 1999)

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Last update: 20 August 2008.