Skip to content

Moors BBQ ban set to be expanded in crackdown

Aisha Iqbal
Bradford political reporter
Reporting fromBradford
Aisha Iqbal/BBC A sign attached to a lamp on some grassland. The sign warns that fires, barbecues and fireworks are banned, and subject to large fines.Aisha Iqbal/BBC
A banning order on fire-related activity on large areas of the Bradford district's moorland is expected to be extended

An order banning the lighting of fires on open spaces in Bradford is set to be expanded in a bid to reduce the risk of moorland blazes.

An existing Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) restricting fireworks, camp fires, lanterns and barbecues on swathes of the district's public roaming land is due to run out.

Officials are now launching a consultation with locals, landowners and others and are hoping to impose another three-year order.

A report due to be approved later this week said a blaze on Ilkley Moor in 2019 came "within 200m" of people's homes and wildfires remain a "consistent risk" in the district.

PA Media/Danny Lawson Two firefighters with a large water hose are seen damping down a fire on moorland. They are standing on some rocks and the hose is pointed into some land below them.PA Media/Danny Lawson
Firefighters tackling a blaze on Ilkley Moor in 2019, which led to the first fire banning order being imposed

The report to Bradford Council's regulatory panel said "a number of incidences of wildfire" had been recorded in the district ahead of the original banning order being put in.

"Many of [these] will have been the result of careless or negligent behaviour in respect of fires and barbecues, rather than deliberate arson," the report stated.

The report noted no "serious" wildfire incidents had taken place in the district since the PSPO began but recognised "repeated large fires on Marsden Moor in Kirklees, one of which was the result of a firework. Cost of damage was estimated at close to £500,000".

The PSPO allows police and other authorities to order people to surrender anything in their possession which could be used to light a fire. Offenders face a fixed penalty, summary conviction and fines totalling thousands of pounds.

The council said it was also launching a consultation with major landowners of other moorland areas within the Bradford district, for example Yorkshire Water, so that those could also be covered by the extended ban.

The authority's Be Moor Aware campaign also continues to be a "valuable tool" in spreading these messages, it said.

Aisha Iqbal/BBC A sign attached to a lamp warns that fires, barbecues and fireworks are banned, and subject to large fines. Swathes of moorland can be seen in the background.Aisha Iqbal/BBC
Bradford Council wants to expand rules banning barbecues and camp fires on moorland by another three years

The tightening of rules in Bradford comes at a time when the fire service are putting out fresh warnings nationally about the increased risk of wildfires during the dryer summer months and their impact on wildlife.

According to the National Fire Chiefs Council, the UK has seen 286 wildfires so far this year.

It said that was more than 100 above the number recorded during the same period in 2022, a year that saw record-breaking temperatures and wildfire activity, with incidents up a third in some parts of the wider Yorkshire and Humber region too.

A six-week consultation on the PSPO extension is due to take place.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

More on this topic