A barbecue ban is on the cards for Staffordshire Moorlands beauty spots to reduce the risk of fires devastating land and wildlife.

Visitors would also be banned from releasing sky lanterns or starting fires on the Peak District National Park and public spaces owned by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (SMDC) as part of the new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) being proposed.

On Tuesday (December 1) SMDC's cabinet gave the go-ahead for a public consultation on the order, which will last for three years if it is approved.

In recent years wildfires have damaged large areas of the Staffordshire Moorlands. And a report to Tuesday's meeting said there have been more than 350 reported wildfire incidents in the Peak District since 1976, with the majority being started by arson, discarded cigarettes, barbecues and campfires.

The report added: "In July 2018 an area of around 50 hectares was affected by wildfire near the former Mermaid Inn, Thorncliffe. Up to 45 firefighters and seven pumps were involved in putting the fire out.

"In August 2018 a further fire broke out on the nearby Roaches. The wildfire was started by a campfire within a forested area and then spread to the active blanket bog (ABB) that is underpinned by a deep layer of peat.

"An area of 65 hectares (160 acres) was burned including four hectares of woodland. The ABB habitat was severely damaged causing the loss of moorland shrubs, herbs and mosses including sphagnum moss. The fire is estimated to have caused the loss of 50 years' worth of peat.

"In April 2020, 50 firefighters responded to a blaze on Wetley Moor Common which is believed to have been started accidentally. Nine hectares of moorland were destroyed in the fire."

A PSPO to help prevent wildfires was previously considered in 2018 in response to a sky lantern festival advertised – and later cancelled – on the edge of Buxton. The latest proposal follows a surge in visitors to the Peak District after travel restrictions imposed during the first national lockdown to control coronavirus were lifted earlier this year.

Councillor Mike Bowen, cabinet member for communities, said: "Moorlands fires and wildfires have a wide range of impacts including loss of life and property, damage to wildlife and biodiversity, carbon loss, loss of grazing land and damage to water catchment and supplies. There is also a huge financial cost.

"The introduction of the Public Spaces Protection Order could help to reduce the recurrence of wildfires by prohibiting the lighting of fires, barbecues, fireworks or sky lanterns on publicly-owned council land. In addition the council could work with partners to raise awareness of the risk of wildfires and encourage people to behave responsibly."

Councillor Joe Porter, cabinet member for climate change and biodiversity, welcomed the proposals. He said: "I fully support it because wildfires can be so damaging to wildlife and conservation.

"I have a motion going to full council to ban the burning of peat lands and this relates to that. Wildfires can be damaging because they cause the release of carbon into the atmosphere which contributes towards climate change.

"Wildfires can damage valuable and rare wildlife habitats which we want to stop. We are part of the Peak District National Park and this is why this is such an important issue."

Councillor Edwin Wain, cabinet member for planning, development and property, said: "In my ward Ilam is very badly hit by visitors lighting fires, lighting barbecues and damaging wildlife in the rivers and streams. It's very difficult for people in Ilam to get police to look at it because they're on the Derbyshire border so they have a severe problem there.

"I'm very pleased this has come up and the more we can do about it the more it is going to help people."