Scotts and English Nature complete UK's largest ever peatland regeneration deal

Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 15 March 2002 Page Views: 4150

The Scotts Company has agreed the early handover of the largest ever area of UK peatland to English Nature for regeneration. The agreement will secure a total of 1,526 hectares of peat moors in South Yorkshire and Cumbria as National Nature Reserves - an area about the equivalent in size to 2,180 football pitches.

In past few years Scott's has handed over 1,280 hectares which is now National Nature Reserve. With the handing over of the final 1,526 hectares of land, peat digging at sites in Thorne Moors, South Yorkshire and Wedholme Flow, Cumbria will cease immediately. At Hatfield Moors, extraction will cease on half of the moor with the remainder being handed over to English Nature by 2004.

The agreement will also see Scotts, in close collaboration with English Nature's conservation experts, employing its industry-leading restoration expertise on all three sites to ensure the harvested areas are returned to raised mire status. This phased process will help maintain employment at the Hatfield factory.

Scotts UK Managing Director Nick Kirkbride commented: " We are delighted that Scotts and English Nature have been able to find a way to resolve this issue. Our priority has always been to ensure that a responsible outcome was reached and this is an example of how industry, government and voluntary conservation bodies can work effectively together to ensure a sensible outcome to a sensitive and complex issue. This agreement now allows a total of 1,526 hectares of peat land to be turned fully into National Nature Reserves quickly and cost effectively."

"This is a great day for conservation in the UK and marks the largest ever corporate handover of peatland sites by a commercial organisation in the UK and further underlines the hard work Scotts has undertaken to ensure we continue to accommodate and prioritise the needs of the environment. It also signals a transition towards new, effective and sustainable growing media, where peat diluents and peat alternative products will become ever more popular, for growing beautiful plants and vegetables."

Andy Brown, acting Chief Executive of English Nature, said: " We welcome today's announcement, bringing, as it does, an opportunity for one of the largest and most exciting habitat restoration projects anywhere in the country. The securing of the final part of 1,526 hectares of peatland to be restored and established as nature reserves is fantastic news for the environment, without prejudicing those people who rely on peat, or affecting local employment. The agreement announced today will ensure that very real environmental benefits are realised - especially on the English peat extraction issue. We look forward to working with a range of organisations to turn these sites into major visitor attractions in Cumbria and South Yorkshire, of immense value to the local community, tourism and the economy."

Under the agreement English Nature will pay Scotts £17 million for Scotts' interests at the three sites. Scotts will carry out the restoration process at the three sites, employing techniques that will see the land returned to its original status of active raised bogs. This restoration work, as well as other manufacturing work at Hatfield, will ensure that any change to employment levels will be minimised. The three sites involved in the announcement are Hatfield Moor, Doncaster, South Yorkshire; Thorne Moors, Doncaster, South Yorkshire; and Wedholme Flow, Carlisle, Cumbria.

English Nature

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