The next Megafire is coming… and Natural England will be to blame!
Andrew Gilruth, Chief Executive of the Moorland Association discusses the hazards of large fuel loads on our moors and what needs to be addressed to reduce the risk of these all too common wildfires.
The truth is that our moorlands are being allowed to become tinderboxes and key agencies, Natural England, Defra and the Home Office have all have failed to step up. To add to the inertia, in April the Fire and Rescue Service was transferred from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. What we need is immediate reform: the Government must either enable us to protect our land, or be held responsible for the catastrophic consequences.
Systemic Failures: No Strategy, No Support, No Accountability
It shocks me that in 2025, we still lack a National Wildfire Resilience Strategy. Wildfire risk has escalated, yet there is no coherent plan from central Government. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has practically been begging for strategic leadership on this issue. The Home Office has issued platitudes about local fire planning, but provided no leadership or resources. Freedom of Information requests submitted by the Moorland Association to 21 fire authorities has revealed that not a single one had a plan for dealing with fuel build-up on our moors. In other words, no one in Whitehall is ensuring our regions are prepared.
Meanwhile, local efforts are left unsupported. Local fire services, working with moorland communities and Estate managers have taken it upon themselves to establish Fire Operations Groups. These create wildfire response plans and conduct exercises with their local fire services. Gamekeepers and Farmers are often first on the scene of a wildfire, sometimes for hours before the Fire and Rescue Service can attend. Farmers and Gamekeepers provide equipment, training, and deep knowledge of the local access and terrain. No national agency has stepped in to support or scale these initiatives up.
Worse still, there is no accountability for state regulators whose decisions heighten fire risk. Agencies like Natural England increasingly prevent controlled burns or fuel load reduction, but face no scrutiny when the inevitable wildfires occur. When the Saddleworth Moor fire erupted in 2018, Natural England misled Ministers, suggesting it began in a managed area, when in fact it started where burning had been blocked for 23 years. Three inches of heather growth per year meant an inferno was inevitable. No inquiry followed. No lessons were learned.
Natural England’s Policies: Adding Fuel to the Fire
Natural England’s restrictions on heather burning are not only misguided, they are dangerous. Controlled burning, when done properly, is a time-tested way to remove dry, flammable vegetation and prevent summer infernos. Yet Natural England has championed blanket bans and stringent licensing, despite the evidence.
Since the burning restrictions of 2021, preventative management has collapsed by 73% over deep peat. This means huge amounts of combustible heather have been left to build up. The agency claims this benefits peat, but fire behavior models in the Peak District show terrifying projections of fire spread under current conditions. Fire officers confirm they cannot contain such events. In these places fuel levels are now way above any firefighting capability anywhere in the world.
And yet, even now, Natural England is proposing wider restrictions – including on land outside of protected sites. If this goes ahead, almost all meaningful burning will require a difficult-to-obtain licence. The results are predictable: larger, hotter, more destructive wildfires. Once again, Natural England offers no operational support, no expertise, and no consequences for the fallout.
It is as if a petrol station had been built on every hill. With massive increases in vegetation, you get what we have – the worst wildfires in our history. The G7 leaders have recently called for the use of controlled burning as a means of preventing them “endangering lives, affecting human health, destroying homes and ecosystems, and costing Governments and taxpayers billions of dollars”. President Trump has issued an executive order to reduce restrictions on prescribed fires because he saw this as commonsense wildfire prevention. The European Commission also believes vegetation management is critical to reducing dangerous fuel loads. Natural England will continue to say it knows better than the rest of the world.
Practical Prevention: Use the Tools that Work
Controlled burning is not the enemy. When done in winter, it creates low-risk firebreaks and rejuvenates vegetation. Studies show wildfires are rare in areas that are regularly managed. In Scotland, 96% of wildfires occur in places where no preventative burning has been done. Fire Chiefs in Scotland and Wales endorse this approach – why not in England?
Grazing is another tool. Yet policies that discourage hill farming have removed sheep from the land, allowing grass and heather to grow unchecked. England’s sheep flock has dropped by 7% in two years, removing a natural fire suppressant from the equation. Other countries see grazing as wildfire prevention. We must do the same.
Above all, policymakers must listen to those with boots on the ground. Agencies and NGOs who set policy often have no operational responsibility – and no liability when things go wrong. The Climate Change Committee and other public bodies must be required to consult with land managers, not just lobby groups. The science is only half the story, field experience matters too.
A Demanding but Necessary Reform Agenda
The State cannot have it both ways. It cannot impose duties on landowners while stripping away their tools. It cannot deny fuel management and then disown the consequences. If it chooses not to enable protection, it must be prepared to own the failure.
We are ready to work with Government, but if leaders continue to ignore the evidence and experience of those on the land, the next fire will be on their hands – and the flames will not wait.
Article written by Andrew Gilruth
Chief Executive of the Moorland Association
