A NEW scientific study claims to have proved that burning moorland for grouse-breeding contributes to floods which have devastated northern England writes Peter Lazenby.

But greedy landowners are continuing with the practice to safeguard their profits from grouse-shooting.

The study was commissioned by Treesponsibility, a Yorkshire conservation group opposed to moorland-burning, and carried out on the Walshaw Moor Estate, a Pennine moorland above the town of Hebden Bridge, which is one of a string of communities hit by repeated floods.

Dr Nick Odoni of the geography department at Durham University, who performed the research, said that stopping the fires and implementing moorland management would reduce the flow of water from the estate by between 2.5 and 5 per cent.

Treesponsibility co-ordinator Dongria Kondh said: “Clearly there are many issues affecting flooding in the town, but the research we commissioned showed that changes in the management practices on the moorland above Hebden Bridge could make the difference between a flood which causes a temporary inconvenience and one which overtops the floodgates of businesses along Bridgegate, causing huge economic damage to the town.”