19/05/21 - Lowland peat re-wetting, phasing out peat for horticulture and land rights.

The Government’s new England Peat Action Plan includes a prospective ban on sales of peat products for gardeners by 2024. A consultation later this year will also look at the commercial use of peat, with a Government target already in place to end it’s use entirely by 2030. The horticulture industry, which grows ornamental plants, mushrooms and vegetables, uses hundreds of thousands of tonnes of peat every year, much of it imported from Ireland and Eastern Europe. We hear from the Horticulture Trades Association about what the alternatives are and what a ban could mean for the industry. And we put their concerns to the Environment Minister Rebecca Pow.

Meanwhile, the document also contains plans to restore 35,000 hectares of degraded peat. The Fens of East Anglia are one the most significant areas of lowland peat, but are also one of the most intensive vegetable growing areas in the country - producing one third of England’s fresh vegetables. The new Plan for England means farmers will have to re-wet some areas, currently used for crops. We find out from the Chair of the new Lowland Peat Agricultural Taskforce what that might look like.

And should we be given the Right to Roam in England? As part of a week focusing on access to the countryside, we hear from a campaigner who says yes.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons