Council urged to end shooting as grouse lease for moor expires

Campaign group Ban Bloodsports on Ilkley Moor (BBIM) is lobbying for an end to the practice, which has been permitted on the moor under a ten-year lease between owners Bradford Council and the Bingley Moor Partnership (BMP). The Partnership, which owns 4,500 sq ft of moorland adjacent to Ilkley Moor, has paid the Council £10,000 a year since 2008 to shoot on the moor for up to eight days each season.

BBIM said its research showed that damage to habitat through grouse shooting is the main driver behind over half of protected breeding bird species having declined on Ilkley Moor. The group claims the “wildlife crash”, which has negatively impacted on the moor’s population of merlin, dunlin and short eared owl, could result in the loss of the site’s conservation designations if declines continue.

Spokesperson Luke Steele said: “The past decade of grouse shooting on Ilkley Moor has proven a conservation calamity, with over half of specialist breeding bird species declining or becoming extinct and damage inflicted on rare peatland habitat. Bradford Council has the opportunity to finally put this scandal to bed by not renewing its grouse shooting licence now the final season has come to an end.

“Sheffield, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire Councils and Peak District National Park Authority have each ceased grouse shooting on their upland estates and set successful precedents for Bradford - the last local authority in the UK to allow the practice - to follow. There is strong local public and political support for this endeavour, which will mark a fresh start for Ilkley Moor.”

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: “A decision on whether or not to renew the licence to allow grouse shooting on Ilkley Moor will be made before April, 2018.”