Expert Witness : Environment

More and more members of the public are becoming aware of the use of Environmental Impact Assessments as part of the planning process - and even before the process begins, as campaigning tools by lobbies in favour or opposed to a development.

Nationally, the HS2 proposals have led to a raft of bodies - from wildlife groups and conservation charities to local authorities and business groups - submitting their own ideas on what the EIA should contain and what it should say.

Locally, proposals for the licensing of shale gas extraction have led to prolonged planning hearings and a great deal of emphasis on the environmental issues - put forward by those both for and against the process.

Following the Supreme Court’s recent judgement, the new Government will have to take urgent action to reduce urban pollution and to instigate monitoring regimes that are able to demonstrate success or failure of the new measures.

This has happened at an ideal time for Air Monitors, who have recently launched technology that is able to do so at a fraction of the cost of traditional monitors.

AQE 2015, the Air Quality and Emissions Show, provided Air Monitors with an ideal opportunity to demonstrate new lightweight, low-power air quality monitoring technology, at a time when political interest in air quality was showing signs of awakening from a deep disinterested slumber.

Immediately prior to the event, Air Monitors technology and staff had appeared on Sky News, helping to explain why 29,000 people die prematurely from air pollution in the UK every year.

Experts from the world of sustainable drainage met at the Royal Statistical Society in London last October for a seminar hosted by susdrain.

SuDS not duds – getting the basics right reinforced the SuDS principles and provided an opportunity to share good practice on SuDS design with experts, according to susdrain – which styles itself 'the community for sustainable drainage'.

Case studies demonstrated what can be achieved and how challenges can be overcome. The presentations were of interest to those both new to SuDS and those who feel comfortable with the SuDS approach.

June saw two weeks of meeting in Bonn to pave the way for a final international agreement on climate change in Paris next year. Despite early disappointment at the small number of environment ministers attending – despite an undertaking given in Warsaw last year for ministers to attend – the communique issued on 15 June was upbeat.

It stated: “The positivity around the past two week’s meetings culminated at the close when governments asked that the elements of a draft treaty be made available by July in advance of the next meetings in Bonn in October.”

Kishan Kumarsingh and Artur Runge-Metzger, the co-chairs of the working group tasked to construct the 2015 agreement, said in a joint statement: “The co-operative and positive atmosphere so self-evident here in Bonn has now translated into a significant step forward towards the elements of a draft treaty that needs to be a key outcome by the end of the year in Lima, Peru.