DEFRA's call for more environmental deregulation and its claim that environmental permits and contaminated land guidance had been "simplified or scrapped" has provoked further disquiet.
The Department announced the so-called "red tape challenge" would focus on environmental regulations for three weeks in September and sought ideas for cutting them.
It cited the permits and the guidance as two out of three regulations already simplified or scrapped and claimed existing contaminated land guidance is overly complicated.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health criticised the attack on the guidance.
"You've got to hand it to DEFRA really, jumping on the red-tape bandwagon to gloss over its failure to provide key technical guidance in more than a decade," said principal policy officer Howard Price.
"Nevertheless its proposals only introduce fresh complexities and, contrary to the minister's claims, will lessen remediation standards and health protection. They may result in more houses on brownfield sites but will people be so happy to live in them?"
The Environmental Industries Commission reiterated its view that, while it had never been a friend of red tape, environmental protection is a sector which relies more heavily on regulation than most.
It said the environment has very rarely been cleaned up through good will or proactive engagement of polluters.
Its executive chair, Adrian Wilkes, was appointed to DEFRA's Red Tape Sounding Board in July and warned then that the challenge poses a serious threat, not only to the future health of the environment, but also to the future of the green economy, a vital plank in economic recovery.
Friends of the Earth also attacked the new phase in the red tape challenge.
"Environmental regulations can be good news for business - they give certainty about the Government's commitment to building a stable, clean and healthy future and encourage firms to invest in new technologies and industries," said policy and campaigns director Craig Bennett.
"This initiative sends completely the wrong signals about the Government's commitment to being the greenest ever and undermines those businesses that want to operate to high green standards."
