Requirement for muirburn licence
Overview of muirburn provisions
71.Part 2 of the Act deals with the regulation of muirburn. “Muirburn” is a Scottish word for the intentional and controlled burning of moorland vegetation (heather or grassland) in order to encourage new growth. It is typically undertaken in order to produce a habitat conducive to livestock grazing and supporting populations of ground nesting game birds such as grouse. The practice of setting fire to moorland vegetation for this purpose is known as making muirburn, which is given its legal definition for the purposes of Part 2 in section 22.
72.In summary, the Part is arranged as follows:
Section 12 criminalises the making of muirburn unless it is done in accordance with a muirburn licence.
Sections 13 to 17 are about how licences are obtained, their contents and how, once granted, a licence can be suspended, revoked or modified.
A condition of every muirburn licence is that the person to whom it is granted must have regard to the Muirburn Code (see section 15(2)(a)). Section 18 deals with the making and revising of that Code.
A further condition of every muirburn licence is that notice has to be given to site owners and neighbours before muirburn is made (see section 15(2)(b)(iii)). Section 19 sets out the notice requirements.
A stipulation of every muirburn licence that allows muirburn to be made for the purpose of managing the habitats of moorland game or wildlife or improving the grazing potential of moorland for livestock is that it only allows muirburn to be made for those purposes during the muirburn season (see section 14(2)). Section 20 defines the muirburn season.
On their face, the preceding sections say that the Scottish Ministers will be the public body that deals with regulating muirburn by, amongst other things, granting muirburn licences and producing the Muirburn Code. Section 21 allows the Scottish Ministers to delegate some of their functions under Part 2 so that they can instead be carried out in practice by Scottish Natural Heritage.
Section 22 defines terms used elsewhere in Part 2.
The Act, once commenced, will largely replace the current legal regime for regulating the making of muirburn. That regime is set out in the Hill Farming Act 1946. Section 23 repeals (i.e. removes from the statute book) those provisions of the Hill Farming Act 1946 that Part 2 of the Act supersedes and modifies remaining provisions of that Act so that they interface correctly with Part 2.
