Wales’ Environment Minister Hannah Blythyn was ’fundamentally wrong’ to impose a ban on shooting on public land, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) has said.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) voted last week to end the leasing of pheasant shooting on the Welsh government estate after an 11th-hour direction from the Environment Minister.
Her intervention ran contrary to the evidence produced by a comprehensive review and public consultation into the future of shooting on Welsh public land.
NRW’s board initially voted in support of the recommendations of that review – which included a continuation of pheasant shooting on land it owns.
BASC said the U-turn was ’politically motivated’. Shooting is worth £75 million annually to the Welsh economy, it invests £7.4 million in the maintenance and enhancement of natural resources each year and supports the equivalent of 2,400 full-time jobs.
WELSH Government is said to be considering the possibility of allowing other bodies to deliver the post-Brexit agricultural scheme such as Natural Resources Wales (NRW) or national parks, due to issues with staffing levels.
But both NFU Cymru and Farmers Union of Wales suggested this could lead to conflict of interest issues if there were organisations claiming money while also facilitating the scheme.