Controlled Burning

Natural England partially upholds Moorland Association complaint as a Peak District Section 25 wildfire application takes 38 days. What must change?

The Moorland Association has joined rural groups urging Defra to extend its gamebird Call for Evidence deadline and clarify how practical evidence will be assessed.

We checked Rewilding Britain's wildfire report: no managed-land baseline, no fuel or severity data, and weak UK peat evidence. Six questions it must answer.

Our letter in The Times backs the call for more firefighters, and argues that prevention must also mean managing the vegetation that fuels wildfires.

The UN's disaster office backs controlled burning to prevent wildfires, as do G7 leaders. England still restricts it on heather moorland.

Large wildfires in England nearly doubled in 2026 and fire services used a record 12,125 appliances by August. What the data means for fuel management.

All 15 UK National Parks accept nature recovery can raise fuel loads. Moorland wildfire policy must judge outcomes, not processes, and Section 25 needs review.

The claim that a wetter bog sheds its flammable heather has never been directly tested in UK uplands — and the evidence shows heather thriving on wet peat.

Derbyshire farmer Geoff Eyre shares over 30 years of Peak District moorland restoration: cool burning, heather from seed, bracken control and wildfire prevention.

England and Wales had a record 1,350 wildfires in 2026. See what the BBC found and how land managers cut fuel loads before the fire season to lower the risk.

A Guardian report on UK wildfires shows fuel matters alongside weather. What its evidence means for managing heather moorland and protecting peat.

MPs on the EFRA Committee question ministers on moorland burning licences, peatland rewetting and support for land managers fighting upland wildfires.