Wildfire commitments welcomed, but muirburn licensing issues remain, says BASC

BASC Scotland has welcomed ‘sensible’ steps to tackle wildfires from the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity Jim Fairlie MSP.

Despite the progress, BASC has warned that the Scottish Government is still falling short on tackling problems with muirburn legislation.

The Minister put on record the ‘debt of gratitude for the valuable role’ that land managers and gamekeepers, many of them BASC members played in tackling the summer wildfires at Dava and Carrbridge.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament yesterday, the Minister also acknowledged the impact of controlled burning for its ‘vital role in creating firebreaks and reducing fuel loads’. Fuel loads, such as rank heather, exacerbate the scale and ferocity of wildfires.

BASC welcomed the commitment to strengthen preparedness, with improvements to the community asset register, helicopter access protocols and Scotland specific fire risk models.

But it believes provisions in the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, namely section 14(1)(b), which sees muirburn licences granted as a last resort method of controlling vegetation, are hindering progress on reducing fuel loads.

BASC Scotland director Peter Clark attended the Scottish Government Wildfire Summit in Grantown-on-Spey in October, where the point was made around removing the ‘last resort’ clause.

The organisation believes the licensing scheme for muirburn is not workable due to muirburn being deemed a last resort method for wildfire prevention, where there is an assumption in favour of other vegetation control methods.

It has urged Ministers, on several occasions, to make the necessary changes to the legislation to ensure practicability, yet this has not happened to date and there was no detail on changes in the statement.

Peter Clark said: “We were glad the Minister put on record his thanks and the enormous debt of gratitude that we owe land managers and gamekeepers for their heroic efforts to tackle the wildfires in Scotland over this year.

“Many of those involved were BASC members who have raised their concerns around how the new muirburn licensing scheme still does not address reducing vegetation fuel load as a matter of priority.

“Now we need to see the Scottish Government bring forward amendments to its own legislation to ensure muirburn licence workability, and to avoid fuel loads increasing, due to impractical legislation.”

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