Landmark Chambers Hosts Seminar on the Implications of Brexit for Environmental Law

On 18 October 2016, Landmark Chambers hosted the fourth in its series of seminars on Brexit. Over sixty delegates from central and local government, NGOs and private practice attended. David Elvin QC chaired and delivered the first paper on the procedural aspects of Brexit, and particularly the implications of the claims by Santos & Miller before the Divisional Court; the “Great Repeal Bill”; and some of the possible exit scenarios. His slides are available here.

Alex Goodman’s paper covered detailed consideration of some of the implications of Brexit for environmental law, including climate change policy; Environmental Impact Assessment; Strategic Environmental Assessment; Aarhus Convention provisions and the Habitats Directive. Here are links to his paper and slides.

Lisa Busch QC’s paper argues that the role of the EU in environmental law was unlikely to have motivated the decision to leave the EU and argued that DEFRA’s “Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and European Union: Environment and Climate Change” published on February 2014 provides a useful framework for at least some degree of forward-thinking as to the likely areas of change following Brexit. The paper considers in detail some of the possible consequences of Brexit for air quality and waste management.