Planning to go shooting in England on Wednesday 2 December? First the government said it was legal, then they said it was illegal, now they say it’s legal. You can hold a driven shoot on 2 December 2020.
Members of the UK government, including prime minister Boris Johnson, announced that 2 December 2020 is the day England goes from national lockdown, where driven gameshooting is banned, back to the tiered system of local lockdowns, where driven gameshooting is allowed.
Johnson said in his address to the nation on 5 November: “We plan to move back to a tiered system on 2 December.”
The statutory instrument that orders the lockdown in England, signed by health secretary Matt Hancock, points to 00:01 on 3 December as the end of lockdown.
However, the government now confirms that you can hold driven shoots on 2 December 2020.
“That’s a significant difference if you’re booking shoot days,” says Garry Doolan at BASC.
A driven shoot day can cost up to £25,000. Shoots only hold a few of them each year. Each day lost represents a major financial loss, with a knock on to the conservation benefits that shoots bring to the countryside.
