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The government will not meet its targets to save wildlife in England and Northern Ireland and is failing on almost all environmental measures, the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog has said.
In a damning report, the OEP has found that seven of the 10 targets set in the Environment Act 2021 have little likelihood of being met by 2030, which is the deadline set in law.
The three remaining targets: clean air, reducing the harmful impact of environmental hazards, and improving the beauty of nature – are only partly on track.
The biodiversity target, which means stopping the decline of British species such as the hedgehog and red squirrel, will almost certainly not be met. The report says: “Important species continue to decline. The opportunity to effect further change ahead of the 2030 target has now largely passed.”
On some measures, the government is bringing forward legislation that could negatively affect the environment. This includes the planning and infrastructure bill, which could allow developers to build on currently protected nature sites.
Robbie McDonald, chief scientist at the OEP, said: “We are concerned that this approach could lead to loss of valuable habitats … The proof will be in the pudding and we will be keeping a close eye on it.”
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has previously described wildlife such as snails, spiders, bats and newts as a block to economic growth.
Glenys Stacey, chair of the OEP, said: “Our report comes at a time when government is focused on economic growth. Nature has a role to play here, an important role. It is not a blocker to growth, but it enables, drives and protects economic growth.”
The report also found that people in England and Northern Ireland were at a greater risk than before of environmental hazards such as floods and wildfires. It said: “The estimated number of properties at risk of surface water flooding has increased along with a decrease in the condition of flood or coastal risk management assets. Wildfire incidents continue to increase.”
The OEP was set up after the UK left the EU. It holds the government to account under the Environment Act 2021, which was passed to replace EU law. The EU can hit member states with sanctions if they fall behind on environmental standards, but once the UK had left, this was the only way to hold ministers to account.
The legal targets were set up after Brexit by the previous Conservative government. The aim was not to fall behind the EU on environmental regulation. Research by the Guardian has found that this has not been achieved, with the UK weakening protections on several environmental measures.
The report from the OEP found that out of 59 environmental trends, covering issues such as clean water, air pollution and species abundance, only 24 were improving, while 11 were static, 16 were deteriorating and eight were not assessed owing to a lack of data availability.
Beccy Speight, the chief executive of the RSPB, said: “Nature in England is still in freefall, and the UK government is off track on its own legal targets. Action is what matters now: real change on the ground before it’s too late. We back the OEP’s call for government to drive greater uptake of high‑quality, nature‑friendly farming schemes and to properly fund, improve, and expand the protected sites network on land and at sea.”
Some positive areas in the report where the Labour government has taken action are on clean air and action on the climate crisis. PM2.5 levels and those of other pollutants are falling, and Labour has put world-leading climate policies in place such as not allowing any new oil or gas licences in the North Sea.
Stacey said: “The government must now decide whether or not it is going to meet [its environmental] targets. What happens now matters.”
Mary Creagh, the nature minister, said: “We are taking urgent action to restore our natural environment and have set out a clear path to achieving the country’s legally binding environmental targets in our new environmental improvement plan.
“We will carefully consider the OEP’s assessment and respond in due course.”
