What to expect from environmental law in 2026 – Regulation and Governance

This is the first of our five articles on what to expect from environmental law in 2026. This article focuses on Regulation and Governance issues.

Environmental regulation continued to attract focus in 2025 and in many cases, we are yet to see how wide ranging and impactful the ripples from those developments are likely to be. In 2026 businesses should look out for: 

• Implementation of the recommendations made in the Corry Review, which was an examination of Defra’s regulatory landscape carried out by Dan Corry. The Review grabbed headlines when it was published in April and noted that our system of environmental regulation “needs to work in a fundamentally different way”.  Having considered our current system of environmental regulation, the Review set out 29 recommendations to help streamline matters.  DEFRA has since confirmed that it is working to improve the environmental regulatory landscape.  However, many of Corry’s recommendations are yet to be taken forward. We may see more progress on these recommendations in 2026.

• In May 2025, the Government published an update to the Regulation Action Plan (RAP), which sets out how the regulatory system will be “overhauled”.  Whilst the RAP is not environment-specific, certain principles have clearly been influenced by the Corry Review, such as streamlining Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) by reducing environmental permitting and licence requirements for certain low-risk activities during the planning process.  The exemptions would apply to new housing and key infrastructure projects e.g. solar and onshore wind farms and exempt activities are likely to include site investigation works, the storage of waste materials and drainage operations. DEFRA and the Welsh Ministers consulted on the changes in April 2025.  In England, the EA will need to be given the necessary powers to define these exemptions – we await further details of what they may look like. In Wales, the changes are unlikely to be implemented until after the Senedd elections in May 2026. 

• The long-awaited publication of the EIP in December 2025 was expected to inject some momentum into efforts to reach the environmental targets set out in the Environment Act 2021.  However, whilst the EIP included a number of new interim targets, many of the wider overarching commitments were either diluted or the dates for achieving them were pushed back.  Further details of the content of the EIP can be found in our article here.  Following this reset, we may see a greater focus towards achieving the EIP targets during 2026. 

• Local authorities have obligations under the Contaminated Land Regime (CLR) to survey their local areas, identify contaminated land and require the relevant polluter or landowner to remediate the site if necessary.  In recent years, the resourcing constraints on local authorities has meant that proactive surveys have not been taken forward for the most part, with the majority of contaminated land issues emerging in a planning setting. However, the EIP set out two key targets in respect of contaminated land which may prompt change in this area: 

  • The Government will carry out an assessment of the use of existing CLR powers and local authority performance and will publish a new State of Contaminated Land Report by 2026. Depending on the conclusion of the report (which is yet to be published), this may prompt some further progress in addressing contaminated land in England.

  • DEFRA will survey all English local authorities to assess the condition of contaminated land in their respective areas and report on those findings by spring 2027.  This may prompt local authorities to focus on contaminated land more closely and could lead to more instances of contaminated land being identified and remediation notices being served.  Businesses operating on industrial sites or sites with historic contamination should bear this in mind when planning for the year ahead and consider whether any action or financial contribution is likely to be required to remediate their sites. 

• Two key reviews of environmental regulation have concluded or are expected to conclude during 2026:

  • The Natural Audit Office has just published its review into “the extent to which the Environment Agency and Natural England are well-placed to maximise the benefits to the environment of how they regulate while ensuring costs to business are proportionate”.  Their report concludes that the EA and Natural England’s regulatory work has been constrained by how they collect and use data and information; guidance can be difficult for regulated entities to identify and access and it should be streamlined; DEFRA and its regulators’ overly risk averse culture has constrained efforts to innovate and pursue new approaches; and DEFRA and regulators do not systematically consider the impact of environmental regulation to inform their decisions on what interventions they should make. Whilst it is positive that environmental regulation is under scrutiny from watchdogs like the NAO, it remains to be seen whether these issues (which have long been challenges for DEFRA, the EA and Natural England) will be addressed through the Government’s wider shakeup.  

  • In early 2026, the Public Accounts Committee will kick off an Inquiry into Environmental Regulation. The Inquiry, which appears to have been prompted by the Corry Review, will consider what changes may be required to meet the Government’s aims in the environment sector, and will take into account the conclusions of the NAO report noted above.  A call for evidence is open until 21 January 2026 and the first oral evidence session is scheduled for early February. 

Burges Salmon advises on a wide range of environmental law, including the topics outlined above.  If you have any questions on environmental law please contact a member of the Environment Team.

Written with the assistance of Helena Sewell.