The secretary of state for the environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment (DoE). Today, its responsibilities are carried out by the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs and the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government. The post was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15 October 1970. Thus it managed a mixed portfolio of issues: housing and planning, local government, public buildings, environmental protection and, initially, transport – James Callaghan gave transport its department again in 1976. It has been asserted that during the Thatcher government the DoE led the drive towards centralism, and the undermining of local government.Peter Hennessy, Whitehall p.439 Particularly, the concept of 'inner cities policy', often involving centrally negotiated public-private partnerships and centrally appointed development corporations, which moved control of many urban areas to the centre, and away from their, often left-wing, local authorities. The department was based in Marsham Towers, three separate tower blocks built for the separate pre-merger ministries, in Westminster.
In 1997, when Labour came to power, the DoE was merged with the Department of Transport to form the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), thus, essentially, restoring the DoE to its initial 1970 portfolio. The titular mention of 'the Regions' referred to the government's pledge to create a regional government. In the wake of the 2001 foot and mouth crisis, the environmental protection elements of the DETR were split of and merged with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), to form the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Meanwhile, the transport, housing and planning, and local and regional government aspects went to a new Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR). A year later the DTLR also split, with transport getting its own department and the rest going to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
List of environment secretaries +Secretary of State for the EnvironmentDavid Butler and Gareth Butler, British Political Facts 1900–1994. (7th edn. Macmilln 1994) 56. Portrait Name(Birth–Death) Term of office Party Ministry Peter WalkerMP for Worcester(1932–2010) 15 October1970 5 November1972 Conservative Heath Geoffrey RipponMP for Hexham(1924–1997) 5 November1972 4 March1974 Conservative Anthony CroslandMP for Great Grimsby(1918–1977) 5 March1974 8 April1976 Labour Wilson(III & IV) Peter ShoreMP for Stepney and Poplar(1924–2001) 8 April1976 4 May1979 Labour Callaghan Michael HeseltineMP for Henley(born 1933) 5 May1979 6 January1983 Conservative Thatcher I Tom KingMP for Bridgwater(born 1933) 6 January1983 11 June1983 Conservative Patrick JenkinMP for Wanstead and Woodford(1926–2016) 11 June1983 2 September1985 Conservative Thatcher II Kenneth BakerMP for Mole Valley(born 1934) 2 September1985 21 May1986 Conservative Nicholas RidleyMP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury(1929–1993) 21 May1986 24 July1989 Conservative Thatcher III Chris PattenMP for Bath(born 1944) 24 July1989 28 November1990 Conservative Michael HeseltineMP for Henley(born 1933) 28 November1990 11 April1992 Conservative Major I Michael HowardMP for Folkestone and Hythe(born 1941) 11 April1992 27 May1993 Conservative Major II John GummerMP for Suffolk Coastal(born 1939) 27 May1993 2 May1997 Conservative
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