Secretary of State for the Environment facts for kids

The Secretary of State for the Environment was an important job in the UK government. This person was in charge of the Department of the Environment (DoE). Today, the responsibilities of this old job are handled by two different government roles: the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

What Was the Department of the Environment?

The Department of the Environment (DoE) was created on 15 October 1970 by Prime Minister Edward Heath. It brought together several older government departments. These included the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

What the DoE Did

The DoE was responsible for many different things. It looked after housing, how towns and cities were planned, and local councils. It also managed public buildings and worked on protecting the environment. At first, it even handled transport. However, in 1976, transport got its own separate department again.

During the time of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the DoE played a big role in changing how local areas were managed. It introduced new ideas like 'inner cities policy'. This often meant that the central government worked with private companies to improve urban areas. It also created special groups called development corporations. These changes gave the central government more control over many city areas, taking some power away from local councils. The department's main offices were in Marsham Towers in Westminster, London. These were three tall buildings that used to belong to the separate ministries before they joined together.

Changes and New Departments

In 1997, when the Labour Party came into power, the Department of the Environment was combined with the Department of Transport. This new department was called the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). This was similar to how the DoE started in 1970, with transport included again. The 'Regions' part in the name showed the government's plan to create regional governments.

How the DETR Split Up

After a big animal disease outbreak in 2001 (the foot-and-mouth crisis), the environmental parts of the DETR were separated. They joined with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF). This created a new department called the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Meanwhile, the transport, housing, planning, and local government parts of the DETR went to another new department. This was the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR). Just one year later, the DTLR also split. Transport got its own department again, and the other responsibilities went to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

List of Environment Secretaries

This table shows the people who held the job of Secretary of State for the Environment.

Secretary of State for the Environment

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable Peter Walker MBE MP for Worcester (1932–2010)	15 October 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative	Heath
		The Right Honourable Geoffrey Rippon QC MP for Hexham (1924–1997)	5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
		The Right Honourable Anthony Crosland MP for Great Grimsby (1918–1977)	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour	Wilson (III & IV)
		The Right Honourable Peter Shore MP for Stepney and Poplar (1924–2001)	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	Callaghan
		The Right Honourable Michael Heseltine MP for Henley (born 1933)	5 May 1979	6 January 1983	Conservative	Thatcher I
		The Right Honourable Tom King MP for Bridgwater (born 1933)	6 January 1983	11 June 1983	Conservative
		The Right Honourable Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford (1926–2016)	11 June 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative	Thatcher II
		The Right Honourable Kenneth Baker MP for Mole Valley (born 1934)	2 September 1985	21 May 1986	Conservative
		The Right Honourable Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1929–1993)	21 May 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
						Thatcher III
		The Right Honourable Chris Patten MP for Bath (born 1944)	24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
		The Right Honourable Michael Heseltine MP for Henley (born 1933)	28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative	Major I
		The Right Honourable Michael Howard QC MP for Folkestone and Hythe (born 1941)	11 April 1992	27 May 1993	Conservative	Major II
		The Right Honourable John Gummer MP for Suffolk Coastal (born 1939)	27 May 1993	2 May 1997	Conservative