Ban the Burn campaigners are not alone in saying that an end to drainage and burning of blanket bogs would reduce flood risk in the Upper Calder Valley. Both the Environment Agency and Calderdale Council agree.
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee took oral evidence on wildlife crime on Wednesday 16 May 2012, as part of its audit of “how effectively the Environment Agency and Natural England enforce laws about wildlife crime.”
From the transcript, the audit seems pretty lax. The MPs’ superficial questions failed to focus in adequate detail on whether Natural England has effectively enforced wildlife protection laws on Walshaw Moor Estate (WME).
As a result, the European Commission is the next port of call for organisations and individuals who want to investigate whether Natural England has acted unlawfully, in failing to provide adequate conservation protection to the Walshaw Moor Estate Site of Special Scientific Interest and Natura 2000 site.
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On 25th June I emailed the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, to protest against the inclusion of Poul Polman, a Unilever executive, in the official UK government delegation to the Rio+20 climate change talks.
A few days ago (ie nearly two months later) some poor sap in the “Customer Contact Unit” in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) emailed me a non-reply. I didn’t know Defra was a shop or business (isn’t that usually where you find customers?). I am most definitely not a customer of Defra, which is a government department working on behalf of the “public” or “citizens”.
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Anyone who would like to be part of a Self Build Housing Co-operative (or simply wants to find out more about it) is welcome to attend an open event held by Hebden Bridge Community Self Build Housing Community Interest Company (CIC), on Sunday September 9th, 3-5pm at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club.
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Dodging the odd rainstorm the LibDem MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside, Rebecca Taylor, today walked to the blanket bog on Walshaw Moor with Ban the Burn campaigners, to see for herself how draining and burning have damaged this valuable habitat.
Rebecca Taylor MEP (left) hearing about the Ban the Burn campaign from Keith Wilson and Dongria Kondh
Simon Thorp, the Director of the Heather Trust, has blogged about Ban the Burn, under the title National Campaign against moorland bog-burning. The thing I like about his blog is that he responds to comments and there’s a bit of a dialogue in the comments on the post. He says in a reply in the comments section that his work for The Heather Trust includes working with the IUCN UK Peatland Programme and he runs the Peatland Working Group in Scotland, and that
“I am all for healthy peatland and active bogs, but I think we need to be careful about how we achieve this.”
Since the Ban The Burn! campaign launched, a few people have been asking for information about the legal battles between Natural England and Walshaw Moor Estate(WME) that began when Natural England issued a Notice of Modification of Consent to WME in 2010.
Hydrology is a science dealing with water on the surface of the land, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere. Most people will probably have vague memories of learning about the water cycle in GCSE science classes – here’s what it looks like
Hydrologic water cycle_ from www.clearaswater.com
Ban the Burn! campaign lifts off.
Ban The Burn campaigners launched a national campaign on Sunday evening, August 12th, in Hebden Bridge. The Ban the Burn! campaign aims are:
