Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release, England’s national rainforests to be protected by new rules, published on 29 January 2021, what assessment he has made of the proportion of peatlands in England that will be covered by the exemptions proposed to those protections.

The proposed legislation, which applies to areas of deep peat in a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) that are also a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and/or a Special Protection Area (SPA), will provide for an exemption to the need to apply for a licence where that land has steep slopes or in circumstances where more than half of the area is covered by exposed rock and scree.

Deep peat by its very nature is unlikely to have formed on steep slopes. Current data suggests that the majority of protected deep peat is sited on slopes that will not be considered steep under the proposed regulations and would therefore not qualify for such an exemption. Similarly, we consider only a very small amount of protected blanket bog habitat will contain exposed rock or scree. In such cases, any burns will be limited to an area of 0.5 ha, in any single burning season.

In either case, should a landowner seek to use such an exemption, they would still be required to hold an appropriate consent to burn and comply with the requirements of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.