£10m deal struck to end peat extraction in UK Feb 27 2002







A compensation deal to halt peat extraction at three of the UK's most precious wildlife sites is being announced.

The Government and English Nature are expected to announce a compensation deal worth a reported £10 million with a US corporation.

The deal will virtually end commercial peat extraction in Britain.

It follows intense pressure from green campaigning groups led by Friends of the Earth (FoE).

Environmental lobbyists have protested for years that peat extraction by the US corporation Scotts has destroyed some of the UK's best habitats.

The protected sites, which are officially designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest and are the country's largest lowland bogs, are Thorne Moor and Hatfield Moor, both in South Yorkshire, and Wedholme Flow in Cumbria.

These rare habitats are the focus of a long-running campaign by FOE and the Peatlands Campaign Consortium.

Major retailers are now committed to a phase-out of peat products.

The deal has been struck because the sites are due to be designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) under the European Habitats Directive.