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Thursday, 13 August 2026

Defra, Not Climate Change, is Turning England Into a Tinderbox

 How bad is the situation? Satellite analysis shows that six times more land was burnt in the UK over the last decade than in the previous one (151,954 hectares in 2016-2025 against 24,805 in 2006-2015). Do not be fooled by those who say this catastrophe is simply down to climate change. Sure, hot days drive moisture out of plants. But globally wildfires are down by a quarter because humanity has become better at creating firebreaks.

Defra hasn’t. Its response to climate change has been to sharply increase vegetation. Over the last 20 years its cuts in upland cattle and sheep grazing led to a 25% increase in highly flammable grass.

Another genius move has been stopping preventative burns of heather. Why do I care about this? Because during damp winter months these burns safely prune the dead material which is then replaced by younger plants. It is the dead heather which is combustible. And thanks to Defra we now have 74% more of it.

The winter burns used to create firebreaks. Now we have huge expanses of continuous, ageing vegetation....<<<Read More>>>...