GROUSE shooting on the North Yorkshire Moors is worth millions of pounds to the local economy, according to Kevin Hollinrake, prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Thirsk and Malton.

Speaking at a meeting with landowners, managers and gamekeepers at Lastingham, he said that grouse moor management was worth about £67m and provided about 1,500 jobs, as well as safeguarding 860,000 acres of heather moorland.

He praised a £52.5m annual spend on conservation on the moors, adding that the Moorland Association had played a key part in Defra’s hen harrier recovery plan, and lobbied for a crack down on wildlife crime.

“We have in this country, 75 per cent of what is left of the world’s heather moorland,” he said.

“Shooting creates the necessary income for its upkeep, along with 42,500 days of work a year.

“It benefits many rural people, from food suppliers to hoteliers and clothing manufacturers to dry stone wallers. When calls are made to ban or licence driven grouse shooting, thought is seldom given to the harmful consequences to rural economies and conservation.”

Robert Benson, chairman of the Moorland Association, said that thanks to careful moorland management and co-operation of gamekeepers, had led to the successful fledgling of 16 hen harrier chicks.

“On the North York Moors we have seen notable improvements in a number of other ‘at risk’ species, such as endangered lapwing, curlew and ring ouzel. Breeding records for merlin are four times more abundant where there are gamekeepers,” he said.

Mr Benson said peatland habitats, damaged by wildfires, bracken, over-grazing and historic drainage, had been restored.

“This helps capture carbon and improve water quality,” he said.

“Without the work and passion of our gamekeepers and land managers, working in tandem with farmers, many moors would revert to scrub and be lost to all those who depend on them.”