Protecting the Peaks: Stopping Wildfires Before They Start

This year has been the worst on record for wildfires in Britain. Here in the High Peak we’ve seen more than 30 separate blazes — including the devastating fire in the Goyt Valley that scorched land the size of 300 football pitches.

With climate change, the risk is only going to grow and we need to do all we can to tackle the factors that are causing unnecessary risk to our natural habitats.

That’s why I’ve been working relentlessly to raise awareness of the dangers wildfires pose to our beautiful Peaks. One of the biggest culprits is the disposable barbecue.

These single-use items pose a serious threat to the UK landscape. Even after they are extinguished, they retain heat long enough to ignite dry grass or forest floor, and when buried in sand, they can cause severe burns to unsuspecting beachgoers. Their convenience hides a dangerous reality, which in previous years led to the destruction of ancient woodland in Cornwall and a two-week blaze through Wareham Forest, damaging 550 acres of land home to rare birds, plants and insects.

The more I’ve learned about disposable barbecues, the clearer the dangers become. They don’t just put our countryside at risk — they put our children at risk too.

I’ve read harrowing stories of barbecues left on beaches causing horrific burns to children. The sand beneath the disposable barbecue can heat to 400 degrees Celsius and remains scolding long after the barbecue has been removed. A child running barefoot across the beach can break the surface and suffer life-changing burns in an instant. As a parent that is just not a risk worth exposing our children to.

That’s why I wrote to every retailer — from local petrol stations to the biggest supermarkets — asking them to take them off their shelves. I’m grateful to the businesses and constituents who stood with me.

Businesses like Aldi, Waitrose, Lidl and M&S have led the way on this, all stopping selling disposable barbecues nationally in 2022. I’m delighted that, as a direct response to the pressure we were able to put on them – Sainsburys, Morrisons, the Co-Op and Home Bargains have all confirmed that they either would not sell them over the summer in High Peak or are withdrawing them from sale once existing stock had been sold.

This is a massive step in the right direction, taking a significant amount of the disposable barbecues in the High Peak out of sale. This will reduce the risk of wildfires, not just over the summer that we’ve just had but for generations to come.

I won’t stop campaigning until we have reduced the risks of wildfires. Together we can protect our beaches, our moorlands, and our areas of outstanding natural beauty from preventable harm.