Make sure your land isn’t caught out by future wildfires

Throughout July this year, England received just 10% of its average rainfall, making it the driest July since records began in 1836. Over the border, Wales was also experiencing the driest July on record, which has created something of an issue with tinder dry vegetation and despite some localised showers, forecasts indicate that conditions for localised areas may remain relatively dry in the weeks ahead.

As a result, there have been numerous wildfires this summer. Some have been brought under control relatively quickly, but others have caused devastation to valuable habitats, such as the fire at Dunwich Heath, or even destroyed property and endangered lives as we saw at Stourbridge.

At several points this summer, large swathes of England and Wales were placed in the highest wildfire risk category, level five of the Fire Severity Index (FSI), classified as ‘exceptional’. The FSI does not forecast where fires will take place but is a measure of how devastating an incident could be if a wildfire was to break out. Level four means that if a fire was to ignite, there would be a high risk of it causing significant damage in the locality.

Our new guidance note has now been published which focuses on restricting access to land designated as open access under the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW). The guidance explains how the FSI works, how to apply for a restriction on public access to prevent wildfire when the threat reaches its highest level, and how you can prepare by requesting an outline restriction while conditions are below level five.

Beyond the legal framework of restrictions on access land, the guidance also explains about other strategies that members could look at to reduce the risk of a devastating wildfire on land they own or manage. These include discretionary restrictions on access land under s22 of CROW or asking the local authority to impose a Public Space Protection Order relating to activities such as barbecues, open fires and sky lanterns which could spark a fire.

If you have questions not covered in the document, please contact the CLA Legal Team for further assistance, or reach out to your regional CLA office to learn where you can request free wildfire prevention signs for your land.