University of Bristol Law School Blog
A window into the legal research carried out at the Law School
By Prof Chris Willmore, Professor of Sustainability and Law (University of Bristol Law School).
When accidents happen, supporting those affected should be everyone’s first step. But then, rapidly, we need to ask two further questions:
This blog suggests we are not effectively distinguishing between these two questions, and this may undermine the effectiveness of the investigations now under way. (more…)
By Prof Chris Willmore, Professor of Sustainability and Law (University of Bristol Law School).
Housing supply was marked as one of the key issues by the incoming government in 2015. Treasury estimates put the need for additional housing in England at between 232,000 to 300,000 new units per year, a level not reached since the late 1970s and two to three times current supply.
Aiming to tackle this issue, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid took the opportunity at 2016 Autumn Conservative Party Conference to announce a package of measures to speed up house building. Successive Secretaries of State have made similar pronouncements, to be followed by rather quieter explanations of why the measures failed, with blame variously afforded to councils, developers, or ‘nimbyism’. This time the ‘nimby’s were at the front of the queue for blame. What is surprising is not the announcement, but what it tells us about the role of the town and country planning, a massive and complex regulatory system that aims to chart a path through the conflicting environment, economic and social pressures affecting decisions about the use of particular pieces of land. (more…)
By Ms Chris Willmore, Reader in Sustainability and Law (University of Bristol Law School).*
With the Referendum being imminent, the Environment has singularly failed to make itself an issue in the BREXIT debate. Yet it is impossible to explore any aspect of environmental law in the UK without encountering European Law. It is therefore no surprise that environmental lawyers and environmental groups have been queuing up to express concerns about the implications of BREXIT – Margherita Piericcini’s Cabot Institute blog on the impact on wildlife and habitats is an example.
So why has the environment not become a key issue? I attended the All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group’s event ‘A Climactic Decision: Brexit’s impact on the UK’s climate and environment’ at the Houses of Parliament earlier this month in the hope of finding out why. (more…)