There have been wholesale moans following the demise of the Sustainable Development Commission and the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. Both were valuable bodies in their own right.

The RCEP’s reports had an effect in the sector including Adapting Institutions to Climate Change, and The Urban Environment. One of the Commission’s key recommendations was that a new urban environmental contract should be established to forge partnerships between local and central government and the private and voluntary sectors. The Government introduced local area agreements.

Environmental Planning was published in March 2002, advocating rationalising the overall system for environmental planning by introducing integrated spatial strategies.

The SDC was 10 years old. Among the operational sustainability targets on which it reported were carbon emissions from offices, energy efficiency on the government estate, renewable energy, CHP, carbon neutrality, waste reduction, recycling and water consumption.

It also evaluated so-called mandated mechanisms, including application of BREEAM to new builds and major refurbishments, implementation of environmental management systems (EMSs), sustainability appraisals of office relocations, plus Carbon Trust commitments and sustainable development action plans (SDAPs).

It helped schools and the NHS to reduce carbon emissions and was a driving force behind the Great British Refurb programme, and pushed for action on construction waste.

The scrapping of the £3m/year budget appears to be a false economy. The amount of savings that it helps identify – £60-70m every year from the government estate – and improvements in energy and water consumption, waste, recycling and road transport performance are likely to add up to £300-350m over the next five years.

The SDC was set up because self regulation wasn’t working and ‘objective’ regulation by government departments didn’t work. Its reports went beyond those of NGOs and Parliamentary scrutiny bodies. And it was critical of the Government. Insiders told us it was high up on the list of unpopular bodies lined up for execution.