Government recognises necessity for heather burning

The Government is committed to restoring England's peatlands, and has announced plans (29 January 2021) to bring forward legislation to prevent the burning of heather and other vegetation on protected blanket bog habitats. The new regulations will prevent the burning of any specified vegetation on areas of deep peat on a Site of Special Scientific Interest that is also a Special Area of Conservation or a Special Protection Area, unless a licence has been granted, or the land is steep or rocky.

However, the Government has recognised that if moorland is unmanaged, there is a risk of wildfire which can cause significant damaging by burning the peat, and that the possibility of these have grown due to climate change. It has therefore announced that it intends to work with landowners and managers to develop local wildfire control plans. There will be specific circumstances where the ban does not apply, such as on steep land or where scree makes up half the land area. In addition, the Secretary of State may also issue licences for the burning of heather on blanket bog for the purposes of wildfire prevention, for a conservation purpose, or where land is inaccessible to cutting or mowing machinery. These licences may cover several years so that they can be aligned with coherent management plans for sites.

This announcement by the Government comes in the wake of a response to a question on the burning of heather on protected blanket bog in the House of Commons last week, when Rebecca Pow, the Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, commented, "We do recognise that there will sometimes be circumstances where vegetation management is necessary and where burning may be the only practicable technique available and we will consider the views of landowners, managers and other stakeholders when assessing the scope of any future restrictions."

Blanket bog is a landscape of international importance, and land managers will continue to work with Natural England to protect it, but the Alliance does not believe legislation is necessary to achieve that protection. We are delighted that Defra has listened to evidence, recognising the important role that controlled burning has to play both in preventing wildfires and for conservation, where other practices are not possible.