Welcome to the Freeths Environmental Law team’s monthly blog, setting out what the team considers to be the most important and significant environmental legal and policy updates from February 2026.
Nature
Defra commits to ban on horticultural peat sales
A written statement published on 19 February following a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, indicates that Defra has committed to tabling timeline options for promoting legislation banning the sale of peat for use in horticulture.
This came following an agreement by Ministers that legislation to ban the use of peat in horticulture will be best enacted through a “joined-up approach”. However, promises have been made regarding peat in the past but never followed through. A private members bill to ban the sale of peat for horticultural purposes was put forward on 3 July 2025 but is still pending its second reading.
The full statement is available here.
Packaging
Defra guidance on mergers and transfers of ownership in respect of extended producer responsibility for packaging
Defra has published new guidance on how extended producer responsibility ("EPR") for packaging applies during corporate mergers and acquisitions where at least one company involved was already registered for EPR for packaging.
Information is provided on how such arrangements affect the large or small producer status, registration requirements, how packaging tonnage is to be treated, changes to fees and obligations, how packaging recycling notes and packaging export recycling notes may be transferred and how adjusted thresholds apply.
The guidance is available here.
Agriculture
Government consultation on use of sewage sludge on agricultural land in England
Defra has launched a consultation on options to reform the regulation of sewage sludge spreading in England, currently governed by the 1989 Sludge in Agriculture Regulations. The consultation sets out three options:
- Moving sludge regulation into the Environmental Permitting regime (which appears to be the Environment Agency’s preferred approach)
- Amending the existing regulations; or
- Updating standards through the code of practice without legislative change
Alongside the proposed reforms, Defra plans to simplify existing agricultural water rules to reduce duplication and ease compliance. The consultation closes on 24 March 2026 and follows the Environment Agency’s 2020 strategy, which signalled a move towards regulating sludge through environmental permitting.
The consultation is available here.
River Action launces judicial review against NRW
River Action has launched a judicial review against NRW for its decision to approve three permit variation applications for poultry farms in Powys. The application is part of the long running controversy surrounding poultry farms in the River Wye catchment and their alleged role in polluting the River Wye.
The claim is based on NRW’s view, in approving the permit applications, that the environmental impacts of manure once it leaves the farm boundary do not fall within its powers in the environmental permitting regime and should instead be addressed through planning permission.
River Action disagrees with this approach and claims that the law requires NRW to assess and prevent pollution before it happens, including the impacts of manure when it leaves the poultry and is spread on nearby farmland.
Further detail of the claim, including the Pre-action Letter of Claim and Response is available here.
Waste
New Environment Agency surveillance and investigative measures
On 20 February the Environment Agency announced a new package of surveillance and investigative measures as part of what it calls is a “major crackdown on waste crime”. The measures include an enhanced 33 strong drone squad to find illegal waste dumps and a new screening tool that enables EA officers to scan and cross-check lorry licence applications against waste permit records.
These new measures are supported by a ‘reinforced’ Joint Unit for Waste Crime – a 20 person group of specialists working with law enforcement to dismantle waste crime networks.
The full announcement is available here.
Chemicals
HSE’s proposes chemicals legislative reform
The Health and Safety Executive (the “HSE”) has published its response to a consultation on proposed changes to key chemicals legislation.
Amongst other things, the HSE had initially proposed to recognise ‘international approval’ of chemicals to reduce the time and cost to bring chemicals products to the UK market. This sparked concerns from campaigners over which international jurisdictions would be recognised.
The consultation clarifies that HSE will only recognise the EU as a trusted jurisdiction. It contains a commitment to maintain the high levels of protection in the EU, only diverging in “exceptional circumstances”.
The full response is available here.
Sustainable finance
UK Sustainable Reporting Standards
The Government has published the final version of the UK Sustainable Reporting Standards (“UK SRS”) which sets out a framework for corporate sustainability framework. The UK SRS is based on the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards and has been released following the assessment and endorsement of those standards, including a consultation that ran from June to September 2025. The UK SRS is made up of two standards:
- UK SRS S1 – general requirements for disclosure of sustainability-related financial information (based on IFRS S1); and
- UK SRS S2 – climate-related financial disclosures (based on IFRS S2)
The standards are now available for voluntary use. The Government and the FCA are considering whether to make reporting against the UK SRS mandatory for certainty entities. The FCA is currently consulting on an amendment to the UK Listing rules to align sustainability reporting with the UK SRS. The FCA’s consultation is open until 20 March 2026.
The UK SRS S1 and S2 are available here and the FCA’s consultation can be accessed here.
Welsh Government publishes sustainable investment principles
On 20 February 2026, the Welsh Government published a set of sustainable investment principles to guide investment in natural resources and support the long-term goals set out in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2026 and the Environment (Wales) Act 2026.
The principles highlight the importance of high-integrity investment in nature, that investment targets should be ambitious enough to reduce negative nature and climate outcomes and promote additionality, as well as ensuring future generations enjoy at least the same quality of life as we currently do. The high-level principles are as follows:
- Support integrated land, freshwater and marine use
- Deliver public, private, community and cultural benefits
- Engage and collaborate with community
- Investment is ethical and values led
- Investment is high integrity and transparent
The principles are available here.
Other resources
What next for development and nature? A practical guide to Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025
Throughout 2024 Freeths provided updates on the development of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, including the controversial Part 3 which introduces the most important changes in nature conservation law in decades. Now that the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 has received Royal Assent, in a webinar on 4 February 2026 Penny Simpson and Richard Broadbent explored what to expect next and what the practical implications will be.
This webinar is essential for developers, ecologists and LPAs understand how to deal with the transition from the familiar current system of project-based ecological surveys and assessment to the new world of Environmental Delivery Plans, the Nature Restoration Fund and state-delivered nature conservation measures.
The recording is available here.
The content of this page is a summary of the law in force at the date of publication and is not exhaustive, nor does it contain definitive advice. Specialist legal advice should be sought in relation to any queries that may arise.
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Penny Simpson
Partner | Head of Natural Capital Law
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Alison Ogley
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Ben Derrington
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Richard Broadbent
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Emma Conwell
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Annabel Walker
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Abigail Pinkerton
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Sam Kharabanda Groom
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Tom Roberts
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Rebecca Delaney
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Paul Brailsford
Partner, National Head of Planning & Environment
Penny Simpson
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