New environment advisor gets first non-executive directors

The government has appointed the first non-executive members of the new environmental advisor, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).

The new members are Dr Paul Leinster CBE, Professor Richard Macrory, Professor Dan Laffoley and Julie Hill MBE. They will join chair Dame Glenys Stacey in advising government and holding public authorities to account for their implementation of environmental law.

Leinster is chair of a number of bodies including Water Resources East and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. From October 2015 to December 2020 he was professor of environmental assessment at Cranfield University and a member of the government’s Natural Capital Committee. Prior to joining Cranfield he was chief executive of the Environment Agency from 2008 having joined the regulator in 1998.

Former barrister, Macrory, is an emeritus professor of environmental law at University College, London, where he set up and directed the Centre for Law and the Environment. In 2006, he led the Cabinet Office Review on Regulatory Sanctions.

Laffoley is marine vice chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Protected Areas responsible for global targets and guidance on ocean protection. Prior to that he led the development and scale-up of the marine conservation work of Natural England and English Nature.

Hill is chair of the Waste and Resources Action Programme and of the Institution of Environmental Sciences and deputy chair of the Advisory Committee for Social Science for the Food Standards Agency.

OEP chair, Dame Glenys Stacey, said: “We will begin work together imminently, setting our ambitions and goals at the highest level so as to make the most difference, on behalf of current and future generations.”

Environment minister, Rebecca Pow, said: “We will ensure the OEP is a strong and independent body that holds the government to account and plays a key role in our commitment to enhance our environment as we build back greener.”