80,000 pages of environmental guidance will receive significant cuts by PRIME Minister David Cameron.
Among those to be snipped are 380 pages on waste management and 286 pages regarding regulations on hedgerow maintenance.
In a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) he said the cuts to Defra regulations would be introduced by March next year. These cuts are expected to save rural businesses £100m a year.
Mr Cameron said he wanted to “get out of the way of small business success.”
Henry Robinson, president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), welcomed the announcement.
He said: “All this is good news for the rural economy, small businesses and the people living and working in the countryside.
“We have been waiting for some time to see the results of the Government’s Red Tape Challenge and it is very pleasing to see that many of the regulations that apply to agriculture, the environment and the rural economy are to be swept away. This radical approach is vital to stimulate the rural economy.
“For far too long, agriculture and rural businesses have been hamstrung by over-regulation and the over-zealous interpretation of the rules.”
In their recent housing report, Tackling the Housing crises in England, the CLA already called for cuts in red tape. The CLA support Mr Cameron’s decision to cut 100 overlapping and confusing standards applied to new homes to fewer than ten.
The CLA will also request changes to Section 106 agreements to help smaller builders, a reduction in planning conditions, and a statutory requirement for local authorities to have a local plan in place.
‘Red Tape Challenge’
Mentioning some regulations he thought should go, Mr Cameron said: “If you want to sell oven cleaner in this country you need to have a poison licence.”
Other reforms that will be introduced under the government’s Red Tape Challenge include:
- “Environment: new guidance on contaminated land and hazardous waste
- Food labelling: regulations to be reduced from 30 to 17
- Road transport: 142 regulations “scrapped or improved” – 36 million vehicles will no longer need a paper tax disc
- Aviation: 48 out of 83 regulations “scrapped or improved”
- Health and safety: “at least one million self-employed” removed from health and safety regulation, and more than 100,000 “low-risk businesses” exempt from inspections
- House building: 100 “overlapping and confusing standards” applied to new homes reduced “to less than 10″ – estimated saving £64m.”
Reference:
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