Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Thursday 18th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, for tabling this regret Motion and moving it so effectively. At the same time, I regret the way important legislation is being rushed through half-baked. Thank goodness that the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments is not similarly constrained to two minutes. It has rightly condemned this SI for defective drafting. I also thank the Wildlife and Countryside Link for its invaluable work in helping to draw out the elucidation needed to make sense of this SI.

My contribution will concentrate on the mismatch between the Government’s words and their deeds. I shall leave it to other contributors to query the wisdom of making legislation before thinking through the guidance that will inform it.

I welcome the inclusion of nature-based solutions in tackling the climate emergency as one of the five themes of COP 26. However, it begs the question: why make an SI to protect peatlands that leaves 60% unprotected? Does the Minister accept that the optics of justifying this on the grounds of “jam tomorrow” are poor?

Secondly, the Minister has said that

“the UK will use our presidency of COP 26 to persuade other countries to put nature at the heart of their climate response.”

How can those words be reconciled with the inevitable live-time pictures of burning peatland during the November peak burning season that will surely, as night follows day, accompany them during COP 26?

Lastly, will the Minister restate the Government’s response to the Wildlife and Countryside Link’s first briefing, which states that,

“exemptions from the prohibition of burning in protected areas should only apply when burning can be shown to be part of either a restoration plan or wildfire management plan.”