Sunday 24 January 2016

The Review of the Muirburn Code


This blog has been established to track the progress of the review of the Muirburn Code that will be taking place between now and the end of March 2017.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Scotland's Moorland Forum to carry out the review and this builds on the report that the Muirburn Group of the Forum submitted to the Scottish Government in June 2014, which provided a critique of the existing Code. As Director of the Forum, and chairman of the Muirburn Group, I will be managing the review process, and I will be using the Muirburn section of the Forum's website to provide access to more information.

This review will only be successful if we are able to gather opinion from a wide range of stakeholders.  This blog has a comment facility and I encourage you to provide your views about the review of the Code, and if you feel passionately about the issues, perhaps you might like to help communicate the message through your own network and encourage others to provide their feedback.

The start-up meeting took place last Friday (22 January 2016) and I am now starting to get the project moving.  I am setting up a Steering Group, which is based on the Planning Group that helped to get us to this stage, and this group will be responsible for managing the project.  I will also be setting up a wider Muirburn Group and I will circulate information about the review to members of this group, using newsletters and email traffic, as appropriate.  please let me know if you would like to join the Muirburn Group; no input from you will be required, but being a member of this group will allow you to stay up-to-date with the progress of the review.

The key dates for the review process are as follows:



Muirburn Code review
Key dates

1.  Contract start
22 Jan 16
2.  Submit the proposed structure and content of the revised Code
29 Feb 16
3.  Submit the first draft of the Code
31 May 16
4.  Submit the draft revised version of the Code
31 Aug 16
5.  Stakeholder engagement / demonstration events
Oct 16 – Mar 17
6.  Review feedback from events and submit draft final version of the Code
31 Mar 17

Note the the intention is to produce a draft at the end of August and then to test it in four workshops, which will be held in various parts of the country, during the next muirburn season.  

I will place more information on this blog as the project develops.

I hope that you will wish to help the Muirburn Group develop a revised version of the Muirburn Code so that it will be a valuable document for everyone who has some involvement with the management of vegetation by fire and/or cutting.

Simon Thorp