Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will list each date on which (a) Ministers and (b) Officials have had a meeting with Greenpeace since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers have met with Greenpeace and discussions continue at an official level.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance has her Department been to local highways authorities on the use of pesticides to ensure that pavements are safe and accessible for pedestrians.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is a legal requirement to minimise the use of pesticides along roads and in areas used by the public. It is for each Local Authority to decide the best way of delivering cost-effective weed control in its operations while protecting people and the environment.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on which local authorities have introduced (a) three-weekly and (b) monthly residual household rubbish collections.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East, Joe Robertson, on 20 December 2024, PQ UIN 19914.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has issued guidance on council farms.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra recently published the 74th annual report to Parliament on smallholdings in England. The report indicated that council farms continue to play an important role in the tenanted agricultural sector across England.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2025 to Question 61182 on Litter: Codes of Practice, and with reference to paragraphs 78 and 79 of the Pride in Place strategy, published on 25 September 2025, whether her Department intends to respond to the consultation; and whether the proposed measures in the previous consultation to stop the abuse of litter fines for profit will now be implemented.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The consultation on statutory littering enforcement guidance was carried out under the previous Government.
In the Pride in Place strategy, we have committed to publishing such guidance and intend do so early next year. Councils will remain responsible for their enforcement activity but will have a duty to have regard to the guidance once it comes into force.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2025 to Question 61182 on Litter: Codes of Practice, whether guidance has been given to local authorities on issuing fines under the Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for pouring liquids down a municipal drain.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Guidance to councils on the use of their fixed penalty powers for littering and related offences is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-litter-and-refuse.
The Government recently published a Pride in Place Strategy in which we committed to putting this guidance on a statutory footing and bringing forward equivalent enforcement guidance for fly-tipping. Fly-tipping is an offence under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential (a) costs and (b) merits of adding Ramsar sites to the Habitats Regulation rules.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance designated under the Convention on Wetlands. Most Ramsar sites are also already designated as Habitats Sites or Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and so subject to strict protections. However, in view of our international commitments as signatories to the Convention, it is Government policy that all Ramsar sites are afforded protection under the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) process as a matter of policy.
The statutory recognition of Ramsar sites through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will formalise existing practice, reducing ambiguity and potential legal risk, and providing greater clarity and certainty for developers. Adding Ramsar sites to the Habitats Regulation also enables Ramsar sites, and development that impacts upon these sites, to benefit from the new Nature Restoration Fund model, supporting both nature recovery and sustainable development.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) remaining in and (b) leaving the Aarhus Convention.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to the effective implementation of its international obligations and to the three pillars of the Aarhus Convention of access to environmental information, participation in environmental decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters.
We remain committed to working with the Convention's mechanisms to ensure it functions effectively and upholds these principles.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2025 to Question 69634 on Swifts: Bricks, if she will make it her policy to amend the Statutory Biodiversity Net Gain metric to allow the installation of swift bricks in new housing to count towards biodiversity net gain.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Swift bricks cannot be counted towards Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units, which must be calculated using the statutory biodiversity metric or its small sites version. The metric does not account for species-specific features, which are typically installed to mitigate the loss of features in the built environment.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department has issued on whether (a) nutrient credits, (b) biodiversity net gain payments, (c) Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space payments and (d) mitigation payments under the Habitats Regulations are required for development which is covered by permitted development rights that have not been removed by Article 4 directions.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Permitted development rights (PDRs) are subject to national conditions and limitations and therefore do not remove the need to comply with the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.
Where a development that benefits from PDR is likely to have a significant effect on a habitats site, a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) must be carried out, and mitigation may be required. Where appropriate this could be delivered through nutrients credits or through payments which contribute towards the delivery of Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space.
Further advice is available at Habitats regulations assessments: protecting a European site and via Planning Practice Guidance: When is permission required? - GOV.UK.
Government guidance confirms Biodiversity net gain (BNG) does not apply to development granted permission by General Permitted Development Order. See: Understanding biodiversity net gain - GOV.UK.