6th April 2022
The RSPB has written to countryside organisations who form the Aim To Sustain Partnership calling for a statutory ban on the use of lead ammunition at the start of the 2024/2025 season.
The sector has responded stating why the transition period of five years announced by the sector in February 2020 is the right way forward.
Mark Cunliffe-Lister, chair of the Moorland Association, said: “Grouse moor owners and operators demonstrated their clear commitment to move away from lead ammunition in the declaration made by nine different countryside organisations in February 2020. That commitment is unwavering and we are now in year two of a five-year transition period. There is growing evidence of shoots moving away from lead and the reason a period of transition is necessary is to deal with significant issues in relation to the manufacture and supply of alternatives to lead. Suggesting a ban that would take place only a year before our intended date of ending the use of lead is unnecessary, is not supported by our evidence of active transition underway and was made without any consultation with the very people who will be using alternative ammunition in the future.”
