Protecting the Uplands from Wildfire: Our Letter to the Prime Minister
Photo by Scott Wicking
2025 was the UK's worst wildfire year on record, and so far 2026 has burned 2.6 times the long-term annual average.
We have now written to the Prime Minister asking for two decisions. First, an independent review of the fuel building up across England's uplands, led by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, with interim advice by 1 October 2026. Second, a named minister to act on that advice through grazing, cutting and trained prescribed burning.
Our provisional modelling, which accompanies the letter, estimates that upland vegetation has grown by 39% since 2005 — around 1.5 million tonnes, or roughly an extra tonne every seven minutes. As it accumulates and ages, more of it becomes dry, dead and highly flammable.
Managing that fuel is a practical way to protect firefighters, upland communities, critical national infrastructure and the public money now being spent on peat restoration.
