Moorland Association challenges Defra on gamebird licensing

The Moorland Association has written to Defra’s Permanent Secretary, Paul Kissack, and lodged formal information requests as the department weighs wider regulation of gamebird shooting, including possible licensing. In a briefing published on Wednesday (2 September), chief executive Andrew Gilruth called licensing the association’s “highest-priority regulatory issue because it could determine whether, where and on what terms driven grouse shooting may continue”.

Why is the Moorland Association engaging now?

The association points to the Government’s Land Use Framework for England, which it quotes as saying Defra will “explore wider measures, including licensing and associated conditions for recreational gamebird shooting and release”. It also cites reports last month that the RSPB is preparing documents for Defra through an “evidence sprint”, as ShootingUK reported in August.

“By the time a consultation is published, its assumptions, options and questions may already have been settled,” Mr Gilruth wrote, arguing that waiting for a formal consultation would be too late. He was clear about the limits of the approach: “Engaging does not mean accepting the case for licensing.”

Five questions for Defra

The association has asked to take part in the work from the outset, with the same materials and deadlines as other organisations, and has put five questions to the department:

• What problem licensing would solve, and why existing powers are insufficient
• What alternatives are being examined
• How Defra will distinguish grouse shooting from pheasant and partridge release
• What safeguards there would be for responsible owners
• How effects on wildlife, wildfire resilience, peatland and conservation funding will be assessed

The distinction between grouse and released birds is central to its case. “Red grouse are wild birds and are not reared and released. Treating grouse moor management and the release of pheasants and partridges as the same activity risks producing rules poorly suited to either,” the briefing says.

Has the Government decided anything?

Not according to the association, whose briefing states plainly: “The Government has not decided to introduce licensing.” The Moorland Association says it has offered to meet the officials leading the work but has “not yet received a substantive response” to its letter, which it has published alongside the briefing.

What happens next

The association says its members may be asked to supply evidence on conservation outcomes, existing regulation and compliance costs as the work develops. Any move to licensing would be expected to go through a public consultation before ministers took a decision, and ShootingUK will report each stage as it comes.