Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill.

I am very pleased to tell you that we have formally introduced the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill.

The Bill will play a key role in Government's plan to create cleaner, safer, greener communities. It deals with many of the problems affecting the quality of our local environment, which form a continuum of anti-social behaviour, vandalism, disorder and levels of crime. It provides local authorities, parish and community councils and the Environment Agency with more effective powers and tools to tackle poor environmental quality and anti-social behaviour.

In particular the Bill includes sections on crime and disorder, nuisance and abandoned vehicles, litter, graffiti, waste, noise and dogs. The measure on Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships makes it clear that environmental crime should be considered as part of the local crime reduction strategy. Further details are available through the Defra website

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/index.htm. The Bill is available to view in full on the Parliament website at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills.htm,
and I attach a summary of the Bill's measures.

The package of measures has been developed over the last two years since I published the consultation document Living Places - Powers, Rights, Responsibilities. Most recently our Clean Neighbourhoods document set out our detailed proposals and we have taken account of views received.

Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill - Outline of Measures Click for more...