In the run-up to the May General Elections, the manifestos have been released and with them an outline of what to expect for several key industries and sectors should any of the parties be elected.
With that in mind, the health and safety and the environmental sectors can each expect some kind of impact of varying degree, depending on which Party comes out on top.
The first of the "Picking apart the Party policies" series, Cedrec Legal Author, Amy Batch, takes a look at the incumbent Prime Minister's Party, the Conservatives. Key issues will be examined with a degree of insight as to what it means for the environmental and health and safety industries.
Environment
Environment is a huge talking point in politics and media, and rightly so. The global warming crisis, EU 2020 targets and sustainable living are some instances of topics that can provoke controversy, panic and productivity.
The Conservatives have set out their policies and highlighted three intriguing commitments.
The Blue Belt is an idea to conserve "precious marine habitat" in a similar way to the Green Belt. However, the Green Belt has in recent times become slightly inconsistent, with the perimeter of the belt moving to suit needs and stipulations being added that it can be built on if there is nowhere else to develop. Should a Blue Belt come in, it will be interesting to see how it is protected in the years to come.
On the subject of the Green Belt, the Conservatives have pledged to spend £3 billion over five years to maintain the Belt, support bees, clean rivers and lakes and protect stonewalls and hedges.
Cameron's party have not shied away from admitting they will continue to exploit shale gas and oil. They say this is both to "strengthen" energy security and to be a "transitional" fuel to support the move to low-carbon, greener alternatives. If this is true, it is a fair argument. You cannot switch the power burden of a country with near 64 million people to green-only overnight, especially when we rely so much on finite fuels. Transitional is acceptable, however, if transitional will carry on for many years with little improvement, Cameron may well end up a little red-faced.
They have stated clearly they will not invest further in onshore windfarms. "Onshore wind now makes a meaningful contribution to our energy mix" however "onshore windfarms often fail to win public support", therefore "as a result, we will end any new public subsidy for them and change the law so that local people have the final say on windfarm applications." It is too early to know for sure how such a policy will pan out, but given that finite fuels are allegedly only to be used for transition as the country becomes more dependant on renewable energy, one might be curious to see where the Conservatives look to replace finite fuels to power the public.
Health and Safety
The Red Tape Challenge continues, with the Conservatives pledging to cut £10 billion of "red tape" and implement the One-In-Two-Out rule, of creating one new instrument which can update and consolidate existing legislation, therefore making it possible to revoke that existing legislation.
The effect this will have on health and safety legislation has already began, with guidance and Approved Codes of Practice (ACoP) being removed, and several new pieces of legislation coming into force which revoke, therefore remove, quite a few existing instruments. In the cases of some legislation where ACoPs have been ruled out yet are thought to be important to have, a "mini" ACoP has been considered for publication, such as for the new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 2015/51.
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