As we have reported on time and time again on this page, it appears to be almost invariably the case that in the uplands, the people who live and work there – and have done so for generations – have little say about how the land is managed. In so many situations, the rules and land management practices are dictated by people who think they know best but, in fact, have little experience of ‘on-the-ground’ moorland management.
Over the last few months, a survey has been carried out, compiled by the Regional Moorland Groups and entitled the ‘People’s Plan for the Uplands’. One of the most shocking statistics that emerged from it was that a shocking 97% of those surveyed answered ‘no’ to the question, ‘Do politicians do enough to look after rural communities?’.
This is then, a wider issue than one simply related to the people who live in the uplands. We tend to focus on moorland communities on this page, as that’s our focus. But if rural communities as a whole believe that politicians need to do more to look after them, that surely must be a trigger for them to sit up and think? If it isn’t – well, that’s an even larger problem.
This was not the only statistic in the report that stood out. Far from it. Things we have found from our own experience also cropped up in the ‘People’s Plan for the Uplands’ – for example the complaint that people in these communities feel that politicians are “in hock to a conservation industry that doesn’t care how its work affects local communities”.
As the report explains in its introduction: “Our study reveals deep anxieties amongst the people who live and work in the English uplands. Speaking to moorland managers, gamekeepers, farmers, conservationists, and hospitality workers, we discovered a profound concern for the future of these landscapes and the people who rely on them.”
The report is intended to provide recommendations for policy-makers regarding Britain’s heather moorlands and the communities that depend on them, and concluded people in the uplands feel politicians don’t utilise local knowledge or expertise to help protect heather moorland.
75 per cent of those surveyed said that rewilding is “not a good thing” for the region’s heather moorland for example, despite this being supported and promoted by many conservation charities.
“What this report shows is the deep sense of anxiety that people across the uplands feel for their way of life and the nature around them,” said Richard Bailey, coordinator of the Peak District Moorland Group. “People fundamentally want a say in how the nature around them is managed. However, they feel that politicians are entirely in hock to a conservation industry who either don’t realise or don’t care how their work affects local communities.”
When asked what they valued most about the upland area, more than 60% said the region’s biodiversity. However, they also worry that the government’s current approach to conservation is having a negative impact on that very same biodiversity, including rare species of ground nesting birds such as curlew and lapwing.
Overall, the ‘People’s Plan for the Uplands’ came up with three main recommendations to policy makers.
1: Involve local people in decisions about the future of the uplands. Trust in their expertise and acknowledge the deep connection which they have to the moorlands.
2: Promote the benefits of traditional moorland management practices. Recognise that the uplands are unique landscapes that can only be sustained through time-tested techniques and should not be experimented on.
3: Support private estates in looking after the uplands. Appreciate their work as rural custodians and acknowledge the unique way in which field sports align the economic and social interests of upland communities with the ecological sustainability of the moors themselves. Avoid measures that disrupt this delicate balance.
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