Oh dear Defra!

Mark 17 Comments

 

Defra, the farmer’s friend, believes in permitting fire-bombing of the countryside, it seems.

The map above is the distribution of signatures for an e-petition – not for Gavin Gamble’s e-petition asking for driven grouse shooting to be banned but for Hawk Honey’s (nice name!) to ban balloon and sky lantern releases.

The Defra response is pathetic!

I’m surprised that the NFU and CLA haven’t mobilised more support for it.

Given that the response seems to ignore any wildlife aspects or any risks of fire to property, but considers in  a rather one-eyed way the risk to livestock, it was perhaps signed off by George Eustice rather than Therese Coffey. Who knows?

Whichever it was, I can’t help noticing that the constituency with the highest number of signatures is that of Suffolk Coastal (with all those thatched cottages) and the constituency of Therese Coffey.

I’ve signed this already but if you haven’t, then please give it some thought.

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17 Replies to “Oh dear Defra!”

  2. I’m glad you’ve highlighted this, Mark. I had exactly the same incredulous reaction this morning. In the spring, I read in our local paper that a local school was planning a balloon release as part of its centenary celebrations. I wrote to the school council, including evidence about the likely effect on wildlife (easily found online) and they decided not to go ahead. These young people clearly have more idea of caring for the environment than DEFRA or Ms Coffey!

  3. I received the same pathetic drivel from DEFRA today. I’ll keep signing whatever it takes to get this issue addressed properly.

  5. I don’t know why we need evidence to ban starting little uncontrollable fires for fun. Or how DEFRA’s four-lettered friend can be considered “independent”. This is not to criticise the integrity of the authors, but the allocation of the funding. I would have done that for a lot less than £25K, in one afternoon, and would have thrown hot-air balloons under the bus for free.

  6. Interesting. Suffolk CC and most of the Districts have banned sky lantern and balloon releases from any Council property and no Councillor or Officer is permitted to attend a release from other land in any official capacity.

    Therese Coffee has, I think I recall, been broadly supportive of these measures as the local MP. So;
    As a Tory does she think this is a local matter – the small Govt agenda?
    Or has she been overruled within Defra?
    Or is she just not particularly effective as a minister?

    Any which way not her finest hour.

  7. I was stunned by the government’s pathetic response to this petition. Surely, preventing this dangerous littering of the countryside is a ‘no-brainier’! But then we know Defra is woefully short on ‘brains’.

  8. Yes, dreadful response. Actually this petition could easily get to 100,000 if a few people put their back behind it, but I’m not sure that’s happening right now.

    One of the aspects that doesn’t get much mention is that filling a helium balloon for fun is one of the most ultimately wasteful things one can do. Helium, which has many important uses, is an abundant element in the universe but very scarce on Earth. Yet if released into the atmosphere it is so light it eventually escapes earth’s gravity and is lost for ever.

    1. And, as I understand it, Helium is used in MRI scanners ( as a coolant?). When supplies are running short, I can imagine the headlines in the future, when they are castigating us for our wastefulness. I think it’s always a policy of governments to try to lock stable doors after the horses have bolted!

      1. I remember way back in the early eighties Omni magazine mentioning that we risked a future scarcity of helium, someone else at the same time mentioned that space garbage could pose a threat to satellites and space travel and I have a conservation newsletter from the mid seventies that reported the problems caused by the expansion of eucalyptus plantations (to make paper) in Portugal. It is believed that the latter was a significant factor in the widespread damage and loss of over 100 lives that took place there this summer due to horrendous wildfires – after all vast monocultures of a highly flammable species might just have something to do with it. By no means all ‘doom and gloom’ predictions have proved to be unjustified sadly.

  10. Do not get the bit about Defra being farmers friend.
    Ask any farmer about this who has had the misfortune to have an animal wired in the stomach which then penetrates the heart.That is one risk when these land in grazing.

  11. The farming press reports 66 local authorities across E&W have banned sky lantern release on their land and on other land some have banned Occifers from attending events where lanterns would be released.

    Further to that – given that the ambition of a sky lantern is to become a litter item, the act of setting fire to one must be an instance of littering, which I thought was illegal, Shirley? So maybe DEFRA is correct – and we don’t need more Law to prevent what is already illegal.

    A successful action from farmers against sky lantern arsonists who burn down barns and kill grazing animals for fun would be great. As would classification of hot air balloon landings as fly tipping, leading to prosecution and costs for disposal of the wastes through an authorised carrier. In this way we might reduce the number of hot air balloons to 2 by 2050. I would sign a petition for that.

  14. A shame perhaps that there isn’t better communication amongst farming support(ers) then there might be a better chance of forcing the issue higher up the Defra / Coffey agenda through the GOV.UK option https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200251

    See other options https://www.farminguk.com/News/Schoolgirl-s-petition-calls-for-ban-on-dangerous-sky-lanterns-due-to-farm-safety-concerns_47425.html

    This is one where there is potential for a countryside community collaborative approach? Conservation and farming interests can both see the dangers etc.?

    This link provides a list of Councils which have banned release: https://www.countrysideonline.co.uk/new/home/back-british-farming-make-a-difference/love-your-countryside/sky-lanterns-more-harm-than-celebration/

    One might ponder where the rural voice is, that strange alliance who purport to represent me and others who reside rurally ….

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