In an important contribution to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) review, Dan Corry, former government policy advisor under Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has set out a bold and practical blueprint for reshaping the UK’s environmental regulatory landscape. A key focus of Corry’s recommendations lies in overhauling the system of waste permitting and enforcement – areas which have become increasingly fragmented, inefficient, and inconsistent, often hindering both environmental protection and sustainable economic growth.
Corry’s analysis, based on extensive engagement with stakeholders from across industry, civil society and regulatory bodies, identifies that the current environmental regulation system is no longer fit for purpose. Years of piecemeal legal additions, EU legacy legislation, under-resourced enforcement bodies and risk-averse decision-making have left waste regulation difficult to navigate and slow to respond to emerging challenges, especially in the face of climate change, circular economy ambitions, and the need for nature recovery.
To tackle these systemic issues, Corry recommends a reorientation of regulatory objectives and culture. Central to this is the principle of “constrained discretion”: empowering regulators like the Environment Agency (EA) to make place-based, common-sense decisions within a refreshed framework of strategic outcomes. This would replace rigid procedural box-ticking with outcome-focused flexibility – essential to enabling innovation while maintaining accountability.
On waste permitting, Corry proposes reforms to the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016, accelerating the update process to make it more risk-based and proportionate. The goal is to eliminate unnecessary red tape that stifles green infrastructure projects, such as those supporting the circular economy, without compromising environmental safeguards. Regulators must be given the tools to differentiate between high- and low-risk activities and to prioritise efforts where they can have the most significant environmental impact.
Enforcement is another area flagged for urgent attention. Waste crime – from illegal dumping to permit abuse – is undermining compliant businesses and damaging public trust. Corry recommends a comprehensive review of the enforcement regime to introduce tougher penalties for repeat offenders while streamlining minor offence responses through faster, non-court fines. He also calls for a risk-based compliance system that supports self-regulation for trusted partners, freeing up enforcement capacity for serious violations.
A cornerstone of Corry’s strategy is embracing digital transformation. Often slow and opaque, waste permitting must become real-time, transparent, and user-friendly. A centralised permitting portal and better use of live monitoring data would provide clarity for applicants and accountability for regulators. This shift to smart regulation would also open up data to the public, helping build trust and enabling citizen science.
Corry’s recommendations signal a shift from a system characterised by defensive regulation and bureaucratic inertia to one driven by outcomes, efficiency, and trust. Defra can deliver a regulatory system that supports both environmental restoration and economic growth by modernising waste permitting and strengthening enforcement. Corry’s roadmap doesn’t call for tearing up the rulebook – but it does demand that we rewrite it with a sharper focus on results, resilience, and responsiveness.
Source www.gov.uk
