Dartmoor independent review can now begin

Dartmoor National Park Authority has welcomed the appointment of panel members to an independent review of protected sites management on Dartmoor.   
 
Confirming the independent evidence review in June, Defra announced Mr David Fursdon had been appointed to lead the review alongside a panel of experts.
 
The panel committee members, announced by Defra alongside the review’s terms of reference, will work with local farmers, land managers, commoners and other stakeholders including Dartmoor National Park Authority.
 
The review will help inform the environmental schemes and protected sites management across Dartmoor. It is due to report back to government in the autumn.
 
Authority Chair Pamela Woods said: “We look forward to working with Mr Fursdon and the panel members. We’re particularly keen to see that panel members are given ample time to conduct their review before reporting to ministers.
 
“Dartmoor is a special landscape shaped by nature and humans over time, steeped in history and always changing. The collective vision in the Dartmoor Partnership Plan is to make Dartmoor better for people, place, nature and climate. We firmly believe that an appropriately grazed landscape is key to delivery of the plan. 

“This review provides an important opportunity to ensure those aims are realised and that an evidence-based and fair framework supports farming systems while delivering other priorities including nature enhancement, public access and cultural heritage.”

MPs Anthony Mangnall, Gary Streeter and Sir Geoffrey Cox requested the review after a breakdown in communication and relations occurred between Dartmoor commoners and Natural England, the body which is responsible for maintaining favourable conditions on the moor, surrounding stock levels on the commons.

During the debate in the House of Commons, which took place earlier this year, Sir Geoffrey said: “Farmers on Dartmoor sustain the communities of Dartmoor. They breed a particularly independent and hardy-minded type of family who are able to make a living from the harsh and adverse environment that the moorland presents.

“Natural England cannot fulfil its statutory objectives without the people, the human capital of Dartmoor. Therefore, if that relationship of trust is damaged, the problem of how we manage this precious landscape for the future, both for Dartmoor’s inhabitants—its families and wider communities—and in the wider public interest, will get far worse.

“One of the problems with stocking reductions, including the elimination of winter grazing, is that there are many tenants on Dartmoor. They are not landed people; they are tenants. They have no other farms than those they farm on Dartmoor. Where are they to put their flocks if they are told that they must be removed in the winter? What will happen is simple: those flocks will be lost.

“Of course, the health of the natural environment is a primary consideration, but so I would argue is the cultural and social capital of Dartmoor, its communities and families who have farmed there for centuries—Dartmoor’s own unique heritage.”

David Fursdon, Chair of the review, said: “I look forward to working with the expert panel to make recommendations that deliver improvements on the protected sites across Dartmoor while preserving agricultural production, public access and the moor’s natural heritage.”

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said: “This independent review will help identify how we can work alongside local farmers and land owners to continue to protect the beautiful landscapes of Dartmoor.

“I am pleased progress has been made through the publication of the terms of reference and panel members today, and look forward to receiving and engaging with the results of the review later this year.”

The Expert Panel comprises professionals with technical knowledge of the ecology of upland ecosystems and the impact of different management and agricultural practices on these areas. The panel members are:

·        Cicely Hunt – land agent and agricultural grants specialist, and member of the Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel for the Rural Payments Agency (RPA)

·        William Cockbain – Cumbrian hill farmer and former Chair of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Uplands Panel

·        Jeremy Moody – Secretary of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV)

·        Professor Matt Lobley – Professor of Rural Resource Management and Director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter

·        Professor Charles Tyler – Professor of Environmental Biology at the University of Exeter

·        Professor Jane K Hill – Research Scientist for Resilient Ecosystems at the University of York

·        Sue Everett – ecologist and land management adviser, chair of The Countryside Regeneration Trust, and former chair of British Association of Nature Conservationists.

·        Dr Lisa Norton – agro-ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre