Some laws are very narrow and relate to only one issue or activity - such as the Mobile Homes Act 1983. In recent years many older laws have been consolidated into large, wide ranging Acts. Two very important examples are the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environment Act 1995. These replaced and modified much previous environmental legislation.
Environmental law receives more attention today than in the past.
During the last 20 years there has been a greater public awareness of environmental issues which have been brought to the public's attention by major world events such as the nuclear accident at Chernobyl and various oil tanker disasters around the world which received massive media coverage. In addition, pressure groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are constantly forcing environmental issues into the media. Within the European Union, environmental legislation is a high priority and the UK have been forced to take it seriously through a number of European Union Directives. Environmental law is found in the national law of the United Kingdom, European Union law and International law. As a result legislation is always perceived as being weak by those who support it.