Controlled Burning

Evidence suggests that heather is more resilient to wet conditions than is often assumed, and that ceasing fuel management in favor of rewetting alone could increase the risk of severe wildfires.

Labour’s new ban on controlled burning ignores fire chiefs’ warnings, raising fears it will increase wildfire risk, endanger communities, and harm moorland.

There is no robust data to support the claim that prescribed heather burning reduces Sphagnum abundance and peat formation, and in fact, several datasets reject it.

A scientific review challenges the idea that fire and heather dominance are recent phenomena primarily driven by modern management practices like grouse moor management.

We hosted an online meeting on 16th September to discuss the government's new burning restrictions, watch it in full here.

Natural England’s cost-blind decisions face Treasury scrutiny. Without proving value for money, reform - or even abolition - could soon follow.

Natural England’s heather burning review buries key evidence and cherry-picks results - risking flawed policy built on bias, not science.

The Yorkshire Post has devoted extensive coverage to the devastating wildfire that tore through ten square miles of the North York Moors this summer - the worst in over 20 years.

Defra clarifies heather burning rules: existing consents remain valid, but new peat regulations risk delays, confusion and an early-season burning ban.

Trust in Natural England rests on a simple principle: it must provide independent, impartial evidence to government. Yet recent publications show a worrying blurring of roles that risks undermining this trust.

Defra’s rush to rewrite the heather burning rules is already descending into chaos. Land managers have been left in the dark and even its own civil servants are confused.

Following the government's decision to further restrict the burning of vegetation on England's upland peat, we have compiled a useful handbook to help guide land managers through the process of applying for a licence to burn on deep peat.