Minister admits wildfire system ‘isn’t going to be fit’ in 10 years

Defra minister Jenny Riddell-Carpenter told MPs on Tuesday 15 September that “what we have in place now isn’t going to be fit for managing fires in 10 years’ time”, as the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee heard that only two of 24 applications to burn on deep peat in the past year had been approved. The evidence session followed a summer in which more than 1,300 wildfires burned over 50,000 acres and destroyed 19 homes.

What did the committee hear about burning licences?

Committee chairman Alistair Carmichael opened by praising the farmers, shepherds, gamekeepers and other land managers who fought fires at personal risk, some still “coughing up ash” days later, before pressing the role of controlled burning while peatland restoration takes years to deliver.

Defra told the committee that most of the 22 unsuccessful applications were not made for wildfire mitigation, and pointed to cutting, grazing and rewetting as the alternatives. Ms Riddell-Carpenter’s defence was short: “A wetter moor is a better moor.” The Labour MP for Suffolk Coastal said rewetting was a long-term approach that improved wildfire resilience alongside water, carbon and nature, but she acknowledged concern over the complexity of the licensing system and said Defra would issue licences where applications were credible.

Risk register to be rewritten before next season

Officials told MPs that wildfire is now considered more likely than an earthquake, despite being classed as a “remote” risk in the National Risk Register. Ministers said the register would be reviewed before next year’s fire season, and Defra is developing a wildfire action plan and a longer-term strategy. Ms Riddell-Carpenter said the country had “come out of this summer in a very, very different place”, adding: “We faced the hottest summer on record which could well be the coolest summer we will have in the future.”

Asked about a national ban on disposable barbecues, fire minister Baroness Blake of Leeds said “all things are on the table”. The Country Land and Business Association has highlighted the abuse faced by landowners and rural responders who try to stop people lighting barbecues and open fires in periods of extreme risk.

Why this matters on the moor

The figures put numbers on the complaint moorland managers have made since the burning regulations were tightened in September 2025: that the licence route the Government presents as the answer for wildfire risk is rarely granted in practice. Ministers confirmed in written answers last week that the wildfire-risk route remains open; Tuesday’s session recorded how narrow it has been. A written answer to Kevin Hollinrake on 14 September repeated that Defra “remains satisfied that the Regulations are supported by the available evidence” and that a commissioned wildfire and peatland study is examining which land management practices build resilience.

What happens next?

A national wildfire summit convened by the Prime Minister is due in October, and ministers promised it would be about “action and not just people having a comfortable conversation in the room”. Work is under way on aerial firefighting, drones, emergency alerts and UK-wide co-ordination between the devolved administrations. The session was reported by Farmers Weekly; the committee’s own transcript had not been published at the time of writing.