Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Sturgeon grouse bill put on the fast track
As a bill to licence grouse shoots in Scotland is brought forward, the shooting groups will focus on ensuring it is workable and legally robust
A bill to licence grouse shoots in Scotland will be brought forward during this Parliamentary session. The measure was included in Holyrood’s Programme for Government, which was published this month.
Politicians will now probably aim to have the legislation passed through Parliament in the next 10 months, with the actual licensing regime unlikely to come into effect before the 2024 grouse season.
The official announcement stated that
“the bill will implement the recommendations of the Werritty review”; however, this is not in fact the case.
The Werritty review actually recommended that licensing of grouse shooting was introduced only if after five years the conservation status of birds of prey on and around grouse moors did not improve. However, the government chose to ignore this recommendation and to push forward with licensing regardless.
There is no detail yet on the proposed bill or on how licensing would work, although it is expected to be a ‘licence to kill grouse’ rather than a licence to carry out any specific form of grouse shooting.
The news, which was widely expected, met with a muted response. None of the gamekeeping or shooting organisations issued a statement in response, and even anti grouse shooting group Revive could only muster a few lines, saying: “The Scottish government must use this historic opportunity to end the entire circle of destruction that surrounds grouse moor management.”
The progress of the bill will now be the focus of much political activity from both sides of the debate. Shooting Times understands that shooting and countryside organisations do not expect to be able to block its progress and will instead focus on making sure it offers a workable and legally robust system for shoots to operate in.
Anti-shooting campaigners, however, will be looking for as tight a regulation system as possible, with some quite likely to look for grounds to mount a legal challenge.
THEY SAID WHAT
“The licence is no threat, it’s how they decide if you’ve breached it that’s the problem”
Former gamekeeper Bert Burnett said: “The licence is no threat, it’s how they decide if you’ve breached it that’s the problem. It was bad enough when we thought it only concerned birds of prey, but now it has spilled over into management of the uplands and no one seems to know what will constitute a breach.”
Matt Cross