Ban the Burn campaigners are in St George’s Square this weekend, collecting signatures for their petition to Natural England and Defra to ban burning and draining on blanket bog. Scores of people had signed the petition by mid-Saturday afternoon. Many local people also signed a letter to Natural England, to protest at the conditions for Natural England’s new Walshaw Moor Estate Consent and Environmental Stewardship Agreement, that both permit continued burning on the degraded Walshaw Moor blanket bog.