Guidance

Heather and grass burning: rules and applying for a licence

From:: Natural England and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Part of:: Biodiversity and ecosystems and Land management
Published:: 13 October 2014
Applies to:: England

When you can burn, when you need a licence and how to burn safely.

You can burn heather, rough grass, gorse, bracken and Vaccinium species (such as bilberries) if you follow the rules below and get a licence where required.

If you don’t follow the rules for burning grass or heather you can be prosecuted and fined up to £1,000.

Burning safely

When burning heather or grass you must:

start burning between sunrise and sunset
have enough people and equipment to control the burn
take all reasonable precautions to prevent injuring people and damage to land and property
not cause injury, interruption or danger to road users
not create smoke likely to damage health or cause a nuisance
not disturb or destroy wild birds and their nests, or other protected animals, plants and habitats
not damage important monuments
not pollute watercourses and groundwater, for example, through soil erosion caused by burning

Further advice on burning heather and grass is provided by the Uplands Management Group

Burning season dates

You must burn during the ‘burning season’, which runs from:

1 October to 15 April in upland areas (severely disadvantaged areas) – find these on MAGIC
1 November to 31 March in other areas

When you need a licence

You need a licence if you want to:

burn outside the burning season
burn more than 10 hectares in a single burn
burn more than 0.5 hectares on a slope steeper than 45 degrees or on rocky or scree areas
burn in a way that exposes more than 0.5 hectares of bare soil (where no more than 2% is covered by plant material)
burn in a way that exposes bare soil that stretches for more than 25 metres along the banks of a watercourse (any channel with flowing water apart from pipes) and is more than 1 metre wide throughout
leave soil smouldering for more than 48 hours

You also need consent from Natural England to burn in environmentally protected areas, for example a site of special scientific interest.

When you don’t need a licence

You don’t need a licence to burn heather and grass on:

private gardens
allotments

Apply

Licences are free.

You need to apply to Natural England for a:

licence to burn grass and heather (MS Word Document, 48.5KB) – Natural England can only grant a licence if the burning is necessary to conserve, enhance or manage the natural environment, or for safety
licence to burn grass and heather on railway land (MS Word Document, 45.5KB) – Natural England will only grant a licence if the burning is needed to maintain the land or for pest control

When to apply

You need to apply:

28 to 56 days before the burn (if you’re burning outside the burning season)
at least 28 days before the burn and after the previous burning season (if burning in the burning season)

Penalties

If you don’t follow the rules you can be prosecuted or Natural England may:

send a warning letter
give you a caution
serve you with an injunction
issue a ‘burning notice’ requiring you to notify Natural England of any proposed burning of permitted vegetation for up to 2 years

You can appeal against a burning notice within 28 days.

Farm subsidy payments

Farmers need to follow Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) rules on heather and grass burning to qualify for a full farm subsidy payment. See GAEC6 for rules on heather and grass burning.

Contact

Natural England

Environmental impact assessment helpline

Email: eia.england@naturalengland.org.uk

Telephone: 0800 028 2140

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