MA Guide: Making a Complaint to Defra about Burning Licence Handling
- Rob Beeson
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The Moorland Association has produced new guidance to help members who believe their burning licence application has been mishandled, delayed, inconsistently assessed or poorly communicated. The guide sets out, in practical terms, how to raise those concerns through the right channels.
The guidance is carefully focused on administration and service standards. As it makes clear, this is not about challenging the existence of the burning licensing regime itself - it is about how individual applications have been administered under it.
What the guide covers
When a complaint is appropriate, including delay, poor communication, unclear evidence requirements and inconsistent treatment between applicants
What "maladministration" - poor administration by a public authority - means in practice, and how it differs from disagreement with policy
How to prepare a short evidence pack and a clear chronology of correspondence
Defra's three-stage process: the Service Standards Adjudicator, senior manager review, and escalation to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman via an MP
Suggested wording members can adapt for Stage 1 and Stage 2 letters
A practical checklist to run through before sending
The guide is intended for members with specific, evidenced concerns about the handling of their own application. It is practical procedural guidance, not a substitute for legal advice, and members should still consider professional advice where an issue is urgent or may affect legal rights.
Members who would like the Moorland Association to understand the wider pattern of complaints being submitted are welcome to copy us into correspondence, or to send a short summary of the issues raised.
Well-evidenced, well-targeted complaints help ensure that burning licence administration is fair, consistent and properly attuned to the seasonal realities of upland land management.
