Secretary of State for the Environment

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. 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 Environment

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Peter Walker, 1980 (cropped).tif	Peter Walker MP for Worcester (1932–2010)	15 October 1970	5 November 1972	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Heath
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Geoffrey Rippon (1970).jpg	Geoffrey Rippon MP for Hexham (1924–1997)	5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Charles-Anthony-Raven-Crosland (cropped).jpg	Anthony Crosland MP for Great Grimsby (1918–1977)	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Template:Party shading/Labour | Labour	Template:Party shading/Labour | Wilson (III & IV)
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:No image.svg	Peter Shore MP for Stepney and Poplar (1924–2001)	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Template:Party shading/Labour | Labour	Template:Party shading/Labour | Callaghan
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Meeting of the Kangaroo group in December 1988 with British MP Michael HESELTINE 2 (cropped).jpg	Michael Heseltine MP for Henley (born 1933)	5 May 1979	6 January 1983	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Thatcher I
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Official portrait of Lord King of Bridgwater crop 2.jpg	Tom King MP for Bridgwater (born 1933)	6 January 1983	11 June 1983	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:No image.svg	Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford (1926–2016)	11 June 1983	2 September 1985	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative	rowspan=3 Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Thatcher II
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kenneth Baker.jpg	Kenneth Baker MP for Mole Valley (born 1934)	2 September 1985	21 May 1986	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:No image.svg	Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1929–1993)	21 May 1986	24 July 1989	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative
rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Thatcher III
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Lord PLUMB - EP President meets with UK Minister Chris PATTEN at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (cropped).jpg	Chris Patten MP for Bath (born 1944)	24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Meeting of the Kangaroo group in December 1988 with British MP Michael HESELTINE (cropped).jpg	Michael Heseltine MP for Henley (born 1933)	28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Major I
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Michael Howard as Home Secretary.jpg	Michael Howard MP for Folkestone and Hythe (born 1941)	11 April 1992	27 May 1993	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Major II
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:John GUMMER 1991.jpg	John Gummer MP for Suffolk Coastal (born 1939)	27 May 1993	2 May 1997	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Conservative