Yet another legal defeat for Wild Justice

The Countryside Alliance has welcomed the decision by the Court of Appeal to refuse Wild Justice's application to appeal against the High Court's refusal on two occasions to grant it permission to apply for Judicial Review of the Heather Burning Regulations. On 18 January, The Rt Hon Lord Justice Males dismissed this latest legal challenge by Chris Packham, Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay, the co-founders of Wild Justice, on the grounds that such an appeal would have no real prospect of success.

Wild Justice had applied for permission to appeal on the grounds that The Hon Mrs Justice Lang had erred in law when denying their application for Judicial Review in the High Court last year. However, The Rt Hon Lord Justice Males found no error of law or principle. The Countryside Alliance, along with BASC, the Moorland Association and NGO, have been an Interested Party to the Judicial Review, and we will continue to fight any further actions by Wild Justice that threaten the positive management of our countryside. Fire has been used as a management tool for many thousands of years, and in our uplands the cool, controlled, burning of vegetation has helped reduce the risk of damaging wildfires, and the considerable environmental damage and carbon loss that they cause. It is an essential tool for those managing our heather moorlands.