Shooting key to rural areas
From: Roy Burrows, Nidderdale Moorland Group.
I AM writing in response to your recent opinion article by Natalie Bennett “Why fracking is Yorkshire’s number one environmental challenge” (The
Yorkshire Post, January 5), and specifically in relation to her assertions regarding grouse shooting in Yorkshire.
The Nidderdale Moorland Group comprises 11 grouse moors covering 40,000 acres of precious North Yorkshire heather upland. We reject outright the illegal persecution of birds of prey.
During the course of the fourmonth 2017 grouse shooting season, we calculate that shoot guests to Nidderdale alone, from countries including Belgium, Holland, New Zealand, Spain, the United States, in addition of course to the UK, accounted for 1,000 overnight stays in the dale and a conservative approximate spend of £100,000.
In total the group hosted some 150 driven grouse shoot days. On average, each moor employs 35 local people per shoot day with an estimated 5,000 workdays’ employment, and some £275,000 pumped into the local economy through casual labour alone. Local butchers, vehicle mechanics, schools, farmers merchants, vet practices and others all benefit from the local grouse shooting.
In summary, in our rural, remote areas grouse shooting is a financial lifeline for local communities and businesses, and, what is more, an important opportunity to come together with old friends and new.