The North Pennines National Landscape (NPNL), which is home to much of England’s treasured moorland and which until late 2024 was known as the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Beauty (AONB), is consulting on its draft Management Plan 2026 – 2031, which sets out the strategic vision for the North Pennines to 2040.
The Plan is a statutory document that will be used to influence how local authorities and partners interpret appropriate land management, and sets out in their own words ‘what might constitute "seeking to further the purpose of designation" through the implementation of work in support of the Plan’s outcomes and measures’. Although published just before Christmas, the Plan was not shared with countryside organisations or their members who own, manage and work on the majority of the land within the NPNL boundary and, despite being listed as a ‘Primary Audience’, were only recently made aware of its publication.
Whilst there are aspects within the Plan with which we do not take issue, there are others that are of considerable concern. Heather moorland is of international importance, and it is widely recognised that grouse shooting has helped preserve it. It is because of their management for grouse shooting that more than 60 percent of England’s upland Sites of Special Scientific Interest are managed grouse moors, and over 40 percent have also been designated as Special Protection Areas for rare birds and Special Areas of Conservation for rare vegetation under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives. Despite this, and ignoring all available science and evidence, the Plan is looking at ending the controlled burning and rotational cutting of vegetation on all peatlands, and it ignores the vital role of predator control in favour of ‘good habitat management or appropriate non-lethal means’.
The NPNL partnership believes that by stopping the management of vegetation there will be many more areas where heather can grow tall, with other dwarf shrubs growing amongst it, with wildfire risk being suppressed through rising water tables. They are under the dangerous misapprehension that with wetter soils the increased fuel load would not be flammable when alive due to the higher moisture content. This will not be the case. One only has to look at Scotland’s Flow Country, regarded as being the most outstanding example of a blanket bog ecosystem in the world, where in 2019 a wildfire severely damaged over 22 square miles of that UNESCO world heritage site as a result of the moorland vegetation becoming overgrown. 700,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent was released into the atmosphere, doubling the country’s greenhouse gas emissions for the six days it burned. The controlled burning and cutting of heather on moorland is an essential management tool as it reduces fuel load in a prescribed manner and creates firebreaks. Without that management, the risk of wildfires and their devastating impact on the environment and livelihoods will increase.
On moorland managed for grouse shooting, ground nesting birds such as curlew and lapwing, which are amongst our species of the highest conservation concern, are 3.5 times more likely to raise chicks successfully, and the densities of golden plover, curlew, redshank and lapwing have been found to be up to five times greater than on unmanaged moorland. Black grouse also benefit from this management, with 96 percent of the surviving male black grouse in the North of England found adjacent to moorland that is managed for red grouse, thanks to the management of predators. Despite this, NPNL believes that ‘Any predator control carried out to achieve conservation objectives should be justified through evidence of its need, targeted in its approach and scale, and regularly reviewed’. The Plan wants to see conservation objectives ‘delivered without resorting to the killing of predators (e.g. through good habitat management or appropriate non-lethal means)’. Without the legal control of predators, populations of threatened species of ground nesting birds, including curlew, our species of highest conservation concern, will suffer.
The Plan also sees a reduction in the number of pheasants and red-legged partridges being released due to their ecological impact, concerns over their predation of reptiles such as adder, and because ‘the birds themselves, and the food put out for them, support species such as carrion crow’. No mention is made of all the benefits of their management, whether it is to the conservation of habitats or other species. Furthermore, claims that gamebird release has negative impact on populations of reptiles like adder are not supported by robust scientific evidence.
Recolonisation of pine marten is included, which could help sustain populations of red squirrel through their predation of grey squirrels. However, pine marten, a protected species, is omnivorous and feeds upon a wide variety of food including small mammals, birds and, like pheasant and red-legged partridge, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Foxes would be their only natural predator in the NPNL, but they need to be controlled to protect threatened species of ground nesting birds and their eggs.
In proposing a reduction in the intensity of management for grouse, reducing all predator control, and all but stopping the management of heather and other vegetation on peatlands, the Plan ignores the realities of upland management, the vital role of gamekeepers, and how they and moorland managed for grouse shooting are an intrinsic part of our living heritage. The Management Plan consultation is open until 10 February and it is hoped that as many as possible will respond using the online form. Responses can be as short or as comprehensive as you wish, and not all questions need to be answered. The Draft Management can be read here and the consultation document can be found here.