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Universal access to a healthy natural environment could save the NHS billions of pounds a year in treatment costs if everyone in England had access to good quality green space, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency has declared. In his speech with UCL's Institute for Sustainable Resources today, Sir James Bevan highlighted evidence showing the physical and mental health benefits...

Scottish Water is working on a £3.5 million initiative with the Scottish Funding Council to make Scotland 'a world leader in water industry research.' The money, which comes from Scottish Water, will be a catalyst for academic research and innovation led by the newly-created post of Scotland Hydro Nation Chair in Water. The company is inviting Scottish universities to submit bids...

Nearly £1.6 billion to directly support up to 5,000 jobs and tackle fuel poverty is at the heart of plans to drive Scotland’s green recovery. Part of an enhanced Green New Deal, the investment will transform heat and energy efficiency of buildings and rapidly accelerate the decarbonisation of an area which makes up a quarter of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions. Environment...

A national campaign urges the government to prioritise social housing in the coronavirus recovery. Homes at the Heart campaign, organised by the National Federation of Housing, the Chartered Institute of Housing, homelessness charity Crisis, the National Federation of ALMOs, and the Association of Retained Council Housing, will highlight the importance of affordable homes and secure tenancies as key to national...

To support changes to the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman have agreed a revised Memorandum of Understanding The basis of referrals of cases from the Ombudsman to the Regulator of Social Housing has been broadened to include repeated complaint-handling failure or potential systemic failure. Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman, commented on the announcement: “These fundamental...

The Scottish Government has laid legislation to enable delivery of the new Child Winter Heating Assistance for families of severely disabled children. This is the first disability benefit to be introduced using new social security powers, this benefit is on track to be delivered this winter. Under the new legislation, families with children in receipt of the highest rate care of...

Unilever has announced it will source 100% of the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry product formulations with renewable or recycled carbon. This move is set to transform the sustainability of global cleaning and laundry brands, including Omo (Persil), Sunlight, Cif and Domestos. This new ambition is a core component of Unilever’s ‘Clean Future’, an innovation programme...

Ensuring Scotland’s economic, health, and social recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is the focus of this year’s Programme for Government, published this week. The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the government’s plans for renewal while ensuring a green recovery is at the heart of the economic recovery, with job creation, support for health and well-being and work to tackle...

An additional £100 million has been announced in the Programme for Government for Scottish Forestry to increase new planting, alongside £30 million to Forestry and Land Scotland to expand national forests and land. A further £20 million has also been allocated to increase the supply of young trees. Over 80% of all new woodland creation across the UK in 2019-20 was...

Plumpton College was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of almost £45,000 at Hove Crown court for pollution that killed more than 1,500 fish. The Environment Agency prosecuted the agricultural college after management failings caused slurry to significantly pollute a nearby stream. Judge Shani Barnes said the Environment Agency had worked tirelessly to bring the college into regulatory compliance over...