Peatlands

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Monday 8th December 2014 Grand Committee

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, along with other noble Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Greaves for instigating this debate. I was particularly interested in hearing about the North York Moors and the thin moors and fat moors. We always learn something in every debate we attend in your Lordships’ House.

My noble friends have drawn attention to the various ways in which the management of the peatland has benefited the environment, from its effect on the ecology and wildlife to possible carbon capture and, last but by no means least, the effect of these lands on water management.

I will specifically mention horticulture, which was touched upon by my noble friend Lord Greaves. I want to look at the relationship between peatlands and horticulture in the United Kingdom and the resultant pressure on these lands from the extraction of peat. As far as I am aware, this extraction, amounting to in the region of 3 million cubic metres, is largely from lowland peat sources, of which, I gather, all but 6% remain from extraction which started in the 1960s. I acknowledge that in the whole scale of things the area involved is not that large. In total, I understand it to be in the region of 960 hectares.

In response to concerns raised by the industry, the Minister’s department set up the Sustainable Growing Media Task Force, which delivered a comprehensive road map to reduce and phase out the use of horticultural peat. The major commitment in Her Majesty’s Government’s response was the phasing out of all peat use in domestic gardens by 2020, and commercially by 2030. Can the Minister tell the Committee whether targets have been met and if this commitment is still achievable? There was also a planned review in the second half of 2015. Is this still going to happen? I also understand that a committee was to be set up to meet on an annual basis. Can my noble friend confirm that this has happened and, if so, have the reports been published?

Having looked at what is on offer to the public, progress has definitely been made on labelling products. No longer can I find bags of compost labelled “low peat”, which can, in fact, contain up to 60% peat. However, having visited a garden centre yesterday, I found 26 different types of compost containing peat at varying amounts, from 70% down to 40%. I asked a member of staff whether any peat-free material was available, and was told there was not; there is obviously still much to be done. There still does not appear to be much evidence of education of the gardening public into the use of peat-free materials, but these must be available for the general public to purchase—not only to those committed individuals who work hard to find them. Over the years, I have used many hundreds of bags of green waste compost, with excellent results; so it is possible to be peat free.

I know that there are documents stating that the issue of peat extraction has been exaggerated by environmentalists, and that the use of lowland peat is acceptable. However, when we have a finite resource, we want to think very carefully about any use that could lead to the reduction of such a natural asset.