Rural Payments and Services

On Wednesday 1 April 2020 the Scottish Parliament passed the Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill. The Bill puts in place measures to address the threats posed by Coronavirus COVID-19.

One aspect of the Bill (Schedule 7 paragraphs 32-33) relates to muirnburn. The muirburn season has been suspended for the period that the Bill is in force. This means that muirburn is suspended until at least the end of September 2020.

Although muirburn is recognised as an important management tool for many in the rural sector, it is not considered essential to the economy in the current crisis. It also places a small, but additional, risk to emergency services who have to deal with out of control fires or treat those injured by such fires.