Restoration plan based on ‘wishful thinking’

Gamekeepers and rural organisations have questioned the effectiveness and cost of the work led by Bradford Council on a restoration project on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire. 

The moorland restoration has involved the creation of more than 350 stone dams, many of which were installed with the help of helicopters. The dams are intended to slow the flow of water from the moor and reduce the risk of flooding in Wharfedale. In addition, 200 trees have been planted. 

Other plans for the project, which is set to run until March 2025, will include planting sphagnum moss plugs, pathway improvements to reduce erosion and runoff, bracken management and cutting the heather “to create a more diverse moorland vegetation mosaic”, according to a Bradford Council spokesman. 

However, Lindsay Waddell, former chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, told Shooting Times: “Given all councils are so cash-strapped, if they hadn’t banned shooting on Ilkley Moor in the first place, there is every possibility they could have had all this work done for nothing, as that is exactly what numerous grouse moors owners have already done to their own moors. 

“Raby Estate did most of this work 40 years ago, it is nothing new, but it seems to be news if it’s publicly funded. And to be blunt, 200 trees is a token gesture; many moors have planted thousands.” 

Andrew Gilruth, chief executive of the Moorland Association, said: “[Chancellor] Rachel Reeves should call in the National Audit Office to evaluate this extraordinary expenditure, which is based on little more than wishful thinking. The conservation industry has secured over £318million of taxpayers’ cash for projects like this, but the evidence that it will boost biodiversity, reduce flooding and make wildfire a distant memory is astonishingly weak. 

“For example, a recent independent review of sphagnum planting in the Peak District found that the entire enterprise was a catastrophic waste of public funds, yet they are still being planted in places conservationists know they will die, with the full support of Natural England. 

“If officials in Whitehall came out and spoke to people on the ground, rather than just reading the glossy reports of those raking in the cash, this type of waste would end tomorrow morning.”