SOMERSET Wildlife Trust has urged the Government to seize a final chance to ban sales of peat production ahead of the next General Election. The opportunity to pass legislation comes via the new Horticultural Peat Private Members Bill to be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday (April 16), proposed by former Environment secretary Theresa Villiers. 

The campaign to stop peat extraction took off in the 1990s and legislation to ban peat sales has been pondered by the UK Government for over a decade. Two years ago it promised a ban by the end of this Parliament in 2024.

However, sales of peat compost and peat-containing products remains legal in the UK, contributing to the destruction of peatland habitats here and across Europe’

Georgia Dent, chief executive officer of Somerset Wildlife Trust, said: “Somerset is unfortunately one of the last two counties in England where peat extraction still takes place.

“The Somerset Levels and Moors have a long history of peat excavation and drainage, and even though we are now in a climate and nature emergency, extraction is still ongoing today. We know our peatlands are one of our greatest carbon stores and one of the most important instruments in our fight against climate change.”