The government looks poised to make yet another attack on rural communities with a Call for Evidence to be launched tomorrow (4 September) looking at "the rearing of gamebirds, the release of reared birds from captivity, associated shooting and land management activities, and impacts at local, regional and national level in England", and will also seek evidence on "biodiversity, protected sites and habitats, biosecurity and disease, bird of prey crime, animal welfare, use of natural resources, and any other relevant environmental or social impacts".

Despite Ministers’ assurances that “no decisions have been taken at this stage on whether changes are needed”, this appears to be contradicted by the government’s declared intentions set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy 2025 and the Land Use Framework 2026.

The government has declared its "ambition to future-proof the grouse and gamebird shooting sector and ensure high environmental and animal health and welfare outcomes" and "to transition to the highest standards of practice being consistently applied for upland and lowland shooting."

What this "ambition" actually entails is of great concern to the rural sector. Many of these proposals betray an alarming lack of understanding of the realities of the countryside, shooting, its associated land management and the rural economy. The government has a record of overlooking, or worse, the raft of recent, robust evidence that shows how beneficial shooting and its associated land management is for conservation and rural communities.

The Land Use Framework makes much of the importance of “multifunctional” land use, but says that because of unspecified “trade-offs” land managed for shooting has a limited ability to do so. The authors clearly lack understanding of shooting and that it coexists with agriculture and other land use.

The Framework also suggests the licensing of all “gamebird shooting and release” despite this not being including in the public consultation. It appears that licensing only appeared in the final document following pressure from the RSPB.

The Animal Welfare Strategy also contains problematic proposals for shoots, such as a widespread ban on various trapping techniques, and imposing further restrictions on the rearing of gamebirds. A ban on predator management tools would be devastating to some of the nation's most vulnerable wildlife, and further restrictions on the rearing of gamebirds ignores the fact that reared gamebirds, like all kept animals, are already subject to animal welfare laws, including a statutory Code of Practice underpinned by extensive scientific evidence.

These proposals pose a serious threat to the future of shooting which contributes some £3.3 billion each year to the UK economy.

The Countryside Alliance believes this latest Call for Evidence is a further unnecessary and unjustified attack on the shooting sector and rural communities. This latest move suggests that the government has learnt nothing from the failed approach to rural policy taken by Starmer’s government over the last two years, which has all but broken the relationship between countryside and government. At a time when the countryside faces so many challenges the Alliance is calling on the government to think again and "reset its relationship with the countryside" and focus on things that are a priority for rural communities.

The Countryside Alliance will be responding to the Call for Evidence in due course, making clear that there is no case for most of the government's proposals, and that there is no evidential basis for them.