Bradford Council calls to ban all moorland burnings

Bradford Council does not allow burning on its moorland in Ilkley

A ban on burning heather on peat moors is being called for in a bid to tackle climate change and improve air quality.

Bradford Council is urging the government to introduce the ban after burning on the Bingley Moor Estate prompted complaints about pollution.

A partial ban on the practice was introduced last year but it is still allowed in areas of shallow peatland.

The council has written to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs asking them to rethink.

It is urging them to look again at burning heather "given the seriousness of global warming and our efforts to improve air quality in Bradford".

Landowners often burn heather to allow for new growth, so grouse reared for shooting can feed on the young heather.

Those in favour of burning maintain it is a crucial tactic for moorland management.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw said the peat acts as a carbon sink to help the environment

Des Coates from the Moorland Association carries out controlled burning on Grinton Moor in the Yorkshire Dales, and said to stop burning heather would be "a disaster".

"We are managing this in a mosaic way of burning to maintain and also create habitats for all the wildlife, not just the grouse," he said.

"We need to mitigate the chances of wildfires, to leave the heather alone would just be a disaster."

Bingley Moor Partnership, which owns the Bingley Moor Estate, added its burning was carried out to provide firebreaks.

Bradford Council looks after Ilkley Moor, which it said was one of the most famous moors in the world, and they wanted to take care of it.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Labour councillor for Windhill and Wrose, said: "We know how important that peatland is to the ecology of the moorland, it acts as a carbon sink so it is actually really important for climate change as well."

Des Coates said stopping controlled burning would be "a disaster"

"We don't do burning on the moor, we invest in natural flood management to increase the amount of peatland to make it the best moor possible for the visitors and the people who live in the area as well."

Luke Steel, from the Wild Moors campaign group, said: "We see huge fires, literally dozens of them going up in smoke.

"The valleys around are filled with the pollution as a result. We need to restore these peatlands to lock carbon in."

A statement from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: "We continue to engage with stakeholders to support and encourage sustainable land management practices that reflect our ambitions to restore and protect our peatlands."

Fires on Bingley Moor prompted concern over smoke pollution