Professor Campbell Gemmell

Professor Campbell Gemmell, professor of environment policy, regulation and governance at University of Glasgow, has called for a “new and coherent” system of governance to take over from EU protections, The Herald reports.

In a report for a coalition of conservation groups, he said “what we stand to lose is serious and must be addressed and that serious reform of our governance arrangements is necessary with or without the UK’s EU withdrawal and its consequences for Brexit”.

The new institutions he proposes for Scotland includes a dedicated parliamentary commission for the environment, sitting outside of the Scottish government and reporting directly to the Scottish Parliament, and a dedicated environment court.

Professor Gemmell wrote: “This would help not only to deliver the Scottish Government’s commitments to environmental standards and policies post-Brexit but would help to ensure appropriate, efficient and effective alignment and coherence between the components of the current set up: implementing agencies and authorities, government departments and ministers, and parliament, business, NGOs and the population at large.

“With these additions, the environment can be better protected and the laws and policies in place better implemented, enforced and visible to the public.”