Category Archives: Ban the Burn News

Ban the Burn takes blanket bog campaign to Brussels

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The European Commission is to investigate the legality of Environmental Stewardship payments to Walshaw Moor Estate.

Hebden Bridge campaigners who want a ban on burning and draining blanket bog – a rare, priority protected habitat – are challenging the legality of a £2.5 million Environmental Stewardship Agreement (ESA) that Natural England has awarded the grouse-shooting Walshaw Moor Estate, part of the South Pennines Site of Special Scientific Interest and Natura 2000 site.

In Brussels on 10th January, Hebden Bridge resident Dongria Kondh asked Jean Francois Brakeland, head of the European Commission’s unit for enforcing EU environmental law in the UK, to investigate whether Natural England and the Defra Secretary of State acted unlawfully in deciding that Walshaw Moor Estate’s grouse shooting operations would not adversely affect the integrity of the protected moors.

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Conservation watchdog’s approval of grouse shooting estate operations on protected moors may fail key legal test

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Information I have obtained through Environmental Information Regulations requests shows that Natural England’s 2012 environmental impact assessment of Walshaw Moor Estate’s  grouse shooting operations appears not to pass a crucial legal test.

The assessment fails to show that no reasonable scientific doubt exists that Walshaw Moor Estate’s burning and draining of blanket bog (and other operations) will not damage the integrity of the protected conservation site. This calls into question the validity of the £2.5m Walshaw Moor Estate Environmental Stewardship Agreement, since the ESA  is based on the Appropriate Assessment conclusion that WME’s operations will not have adverse effects on the integrity of the site.
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Ban the Burn evening event with geomorphology Prof postponed to 26th February

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Snow has meant that Geomorphology Professor Malcolm Newson’s visit to Hebden Bridge at Treesponsibility’s invitation is postponed to February 26th and 27th. He’ll be looking at Walshaw Moor Estate and SOURCE tree-planting sites, and offering advice on erosion control and combating soil runoff and sedimentation in rivers.
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Residents and Council hope Natural England will act to reduce flood risk from uplands

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Hebden Bridge residents and Calderdale Council both want Natural England to make sure that uplands management reduces the risk of flooding in the Upper Calder Valley.

In a submission to Natural England’s Uplands Review, more than 90 Hebden Bridge Residents have asked Natural England to urgently review the terms of the Walshaw Moor Estate Environmental Stewardship Agreement (ESA). The residents say that the ESA doesn’t take proper account of local people’s needs for upland management that will reduce the risk of flooding in the Upper Calder Valley, and as a result, the £2.5m that the ESA will pay to Walshaw Moor Estate over the next ten years “represents exceptionally poor value for public money.”

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RSPB asks European Commission to investigate Natural England’s “probably unlawful” activities regarding Walshaw Moor Estate

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After six months of investigation, the RSPB has decided that Natural England has failed in its duties to enforce wildlife and habitat protection laws on Walshaw Moor Estate, and has asked the European Commission to step in.

Mike Clarke, RSPB chief executive, said

“The decision to lodge this complaint has not been taken lightly, but this is a vitally important issue which centres on the Government’s statutory duty to protect our natural environment.”

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Caroline Lucas MP refers Energy Royd criticism of Environmental Audit Committee to its Chair

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Caroline Lucas MP, who is a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, has emailed to say:

“Thank you for your email and comments about the Environmental Audit Committee’s wildlife crime inquiry. I am sorry that you did not feel the investigation was sufficiently rigorous and am happy to pass on your feedback to the Chair. I appreciate you getting in touch and sharing your concerns.”

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Environmental Information Regulations request to Natural England 28 Sept 2012

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Here is Natural England’s reply -1710 to the Environmental Information Regulations request that I made on 28 Sept 2012, as follows:

1. What form and process does Natural England’s “appropriate assessment” take when drawing up Consents and Management Agreements for land management on Natura 2000 sites (aka Europe 2000 sites)?

2. Is this the same as carrying out a Habitat Regulations Assessment?

3. How many Natural England Consents for Natura 2000 sites permit blanket bog burning and draining?
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Natural England’s old Vital Uplands policy

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At the Ban the Burn meeting on September 23rd, some people were asking about the environmentally-friendly uplands policy that Natural England ditched recently. This is the Vital Uplands policy. Natural England seems to have taken the policy document off its website – at least, when I last  looked, I couldn’t find it.

But I had downloaded some time ago, and just found the file on an old memory stick. Here it is. Continue reading →