Member

“Experts who have studied the dreadful wildfires in Portugal, Greece and Australia say that we too risk these new types of fires with pyroconvection causing flames to leap huge distances as they generate their own, unpredictable and highly dangerous winds. The flames will only be part of the problem. Since much of the fuel load is accumulating above areas of deep peat, these carbon stores will belch poisonous smoke for months. We consider Natural England’s current policy of adding fuel to the coming fires is absurd…Given that the experts are shouting, why has Natural England been so deaf? Partly it is due to its fixation with minutiae instead of major policy concerns. We empathise with your cabinet colleagues’ irritation about Natural England’s pettiness over bats and newts. In the case of moorland management, it has buried itself in micro-regulating decisions about where and when to remove vegetation through mowing or winter burns and how rewetting moors can help moss grow. These are issues where people working in the hills are much better positioned to understand what nature needs than officials in glass offices”.