Wales was yesterday ( Wednesday 10 February) granted new powers to make its own laws on environmental issues when the Environment Legislative Competence Order (LCO)  was made by Her Majesty the Queen in Privy Council. 

 The LCO, which had already been approved by the National Assembly of Wales and  both Houses of Parliament means that the National Assembly now has the power to pass laws in the areas of waste, pollution and nuisances. Such laws are known as  Assembly  Measures.

The Environment, Sustainability and Housing Minister Jane Davidson said:

 The way that we protect our environment and manage Waste is critical to the future of Wales.

 Although Environment policy has long been a devolved issue, until now we haven’t had the power to pass’ made in Wales’ legislation based on Welsh priorities and needs.

 “Now that the Environment LCO has been made by Her Majesty in Council we can move forward with our work to introduce a Measure that will enable us to adopt more sustainable waste management practices here in Wales.

 This is great news for Wales. It will help us to reduce our carbon footprint and allow us to work towards achieving the ambitions set out in our strategy ‘Towards Zero Waste’. “