Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 11 Feb 2020
Waste Incineration Facilities
"Does the Minister agree that the cumulative impact of the number of these facilities in a geographical area must also be assessed and that there must not be just an assessment of the individual application when each application comes forward for consideration?..."Darren Jones - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 11 Feb 2020
Waste Incineration Facilities
"I am sorry, but will the Minister give way just once more?..."Darren Jones - View Speech
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Written Question
Thursday 23rd January 2020
Asked by:
Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question
to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of climate change on the work of her Department; and what steps she is taking in response to that effect.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling climate change is a priority for the whole of Government, which is why the Prime Minister is chairing a new Cabinet Committee on Climate Change to drive action across all sectors of the economy and demonstrate the UK’s global leadership as we prepare to host the crucial COP26 talks in Glasgow in November. Defra is playing its part in achieving net zero, taking forward efforts to reduce emissions from agriculture, waste, land-use and fluorinated gases and to encourage sequestration through forestry.
Defra, as the lead department for domestic adaptation, is responsible for delivering adaptation duties set out in the Climate Change Act 2008. These include preparing, every five years, a UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), followed by a National Adaptation Programme (NAP), which sets out actions to address the risks identified in the CCRA. The second, most recent, CCRA was published in 2017 and the second NAP was published in July 2018.
Adaptation is rightly integrated throughout the policies and programmes of Government. The NAP includes actions in a broad range of areas, including the natural environment, infrastructure, people and the built environment, business and industry, and local Government. It sets out the actions Government is taking to address the risks posed by a changing climate - including Government investment of £2.6 billion between 2015 and 2021 to better protect 300,000 homes from flooding and coastal erosion. We are also developing and implementing a Nature Recovery Network, which will create or restore 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat in England. Nature recovery can help us to mitigate and adapt to climate change, because our wetlands, forests and grasslands capture carbon and provide other environmental benefits, such as flood management and pollination. Marine Protected Areas (including the 41 new Marine Conservation Zones we designated last year) now cover 40% of English waters and will help enhance the resilience of ecosystems and wildlife to climate change.
Defra will work with other departments through the Cabinet Committee on Climate Change, chaired by the Prime Minister.
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 23 Oct 2019
Waste Processing Facilities: Local Environment
"I beg to move,
That this House has considered the effect of waste processing facilities on the local environment.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. However conscientiously we all try to manage our own rubbish, most of us probably do not give a second thought …..."Darren Jones - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 23 Oct 2019
Waste Processing Facilities: Local Environment
"I do agree. I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention and for her Adjournment debate on the Floor of the House, which I referenced in my letter to the then Environment Secretary, not least because the Government had promised to bring forward some regulations. To be fair, they had …..."Darren Jones - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 23 Oct 2019
Waste Processing Facilities: Local Environment
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. That is part of the puzzle. National and local planning frameworks should better reflect some of these issues when decisions are being taken. For example, a number of early planning decisions were granted by Bristol City Council, but the previous two applications …..."Darren Jones - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 23 Oct 2019
Waste Processing Facilities: Local Environment
"I very much agree, because I have had exactly that issue: a company that went into administration was bought by an overseas company, and activity on the site continued with the existing permit. That is a problem. It shows a lack of enforcement, and that is why constituents get concerned …..."Darren Jones - View Speech
View all Darren Jones (Lab - Bristol North West) contributions to the debate on: Waste Processing Facilities: Local Environment
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 23 Oct 2019
Waste Processing Facilities: Local Environment
"The Minister will have to forgive me if I am treading on the next paragraph of her speech, but the issue here is the retrospective view. Planning permissions and environmental permits have been granted, and we are now in a position where we have too many of these facilities, too …..."Darren Jones - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 23 Oct 2019
Waste Processing Facilities: Local Environment
"indicated assent...."Darren Jones - View Speech
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Written Question
Friday 4th October 2019
Asked by:
Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question
to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environmental Audit Committee report, Fixing Fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability, published on 19 February, HC 1952, if she will make an assessment of the recommendations of that report in light of the Government's commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government will take forward the commitments in our Resources and Waste Strategy to develop the best mix of policy measures to reduce the environmental impacts of clothing. We will take account of the UK’s commitments under the Paris Agreement and Climate Change Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Reducing carbon emissions has been a core part of voluntary industry action to date through the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, supported by Defra, through which signatories have reduced their carbon emissions per tonne of clothing by 11.9% between 2012 and 2017.