Dartmoor National Park Management Plan 2007-2012
On this page you will find information relating to the Dartmoor National Park Management Plan. This is a plan for the whole of Dartmoor for the 5 years from 2007 to 2012. Although it is produced and monitored by the National Park Authority, it is being delivered by a wide range of organisations and individuals. Partnership working is essential to its success.
The Management Plan has as its beginning a vision for Dartmoor in 2027, expressed in both words and images. Following on from this are a series of Ambitions, grouped under three themes: Sense of Place, Access for All and Business. These Ambitions are to be met by a series of Goals and Means to Achieve.
Woven through the Management Plan Ambitions are a number of cross-cutting themes that are of particular importance in ensuring a sustainable future for the National Park. These include climate change, the future of upland farming, transport social inclusion and the importance of developing an evidence-led approach to decision-making.
The Plan can be downloaded as PDFs below. Alternatively view the Management Plan text online.
- Foreward, Consultation, Contents - Pages 1-7
(PDF Help 200Kb) - Introduction - Pages 9-27 (PDF Help 673Kb)
- Sense of Place - Pages 29-55 (PDF Help 697Kb)
- Access For All - Pages 57-73 (PDF Help 468Kb)
- Communities & Business - Pages 75-93 (PDF Help 545Kb)
- Appendices - Abbreviations and Glossary - Pages 96-101 (PDF Help 772Kb)
Please note that to reduce file size pages 2,4,8,10,28,56,74,94 and 95 have been removed as they contained only photographs of Dartmoor. These pages are intact on the full document to download below.
- Download the Dartmoor National Park Management Plan in FULL (PDF Help 3.4Mb)
- Download the Dartmoor National Park Management Plan SUMMARY (PDF Help 1Mb)
Accompanying the Plan is an Environmental Report (PDF Help 597Kb) which sets out the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Appraisal of the Plan's Ambitions and Goals. The purpose of SEA is to assess the environmental effects of the Management Plan, and to aid the decision making process during the preparation of the Plan.
Further to this a screening report for Appropriate Assessment has been completed. Appropriate Assessment is required of all plans that may have an impact on ‘European Sites’; areas designated because of their exceptional importance as habitat.
State of the Park Reporting
Monitoring the success of the Dartmoor National Park Management Plan is essential to inform future decisions. Guidance1 advises that State of the Park Reports (SotPR) include evidence of the current state of, and issues affecting:
- the special qualities of the National Park;
- how these special qualities are enjoyed and by whom;
- and the economic and social well-being of National Park communities.
The purpose of the report is therefore:
- to identify the pressures and issues affecting the National Park;
- to ensure that the National Park Authority and other organisations are aware of the most important issues affecting the National Park;
- to measure whether work that is being done is having a positive effect;
- and to identify any new issues or priorities.
Monitoring the Delivery of the Plan
The Plan states that successful monitoring requires robust baseline evidence against which the achievement of individual goals can be assessed. The purpose of this baseline report is to describe the current state of the National Park in order to monitor change on the ground through the life of the Plan.
The delivery of the Plan is overseen by a Management Plan Delivery Board made up of representatives from the key organisations who are delivering the goals and means to achieve in the Plan. They meet once a year in December and their key objective is to pursue timely delivery by effective partnership working.
View the Terms of Reference including membership and the minutes of the Delivery Board's first meeting. (PDF Help 68Kb)
The Delivery Board
- Receives and comments on an annual progress report
- Makes recommendations for delivery in future years where necessary
- Advises on partnership working
- Identifies how to publicise successful projects
- Assists in the preparation and publication of the State of the Park Report and subsequent monitoring
- Assists in the preparation of future National Park Management Plans
The Management Plan, Progress Reports and State of the Park Report are closely linked and the monitoring process is shown in the diagram below.
Newsletter – Delivering for Dartmoor
The Delivery Board have produced a full colour illustrated newsletter Delivering for Dartmoor (PDF Help 466Kb) to publicise the work the variety or organisations have carried out this year under the auspices of the Plan. This newsletter is also available in black and white for printing Delivering for Dartmoor (black and white). (PDF Help 1.5Mb)
Monitoring progress
A searchable register has been set up for monitoring the Plan so that anyone with an interest in Dartmoor can se what progress is being made and perhaps contribute to the Plan. The goals and ‘means to achieve’ can be filtered by lead organisation, ambition (as in the Plan) and current status (whether it is completed, in progress, delayed etc) so that you can see who is doing what. This information has been provided by partner organisations and is collated and updated regularly by the Dartmoor National Park Authority.
If you have any comments or require further info, please email: manplan@dartmoor-npa.gov.uk.
Links to partner organisations
For further information about the work of partner organisations, links to the homepages of their websites are provided here:
Community Council of Devon (external site, opens new window)
Dartmoor Commoners' Council (external site, opens new window)
Dartmoor Partnership (external site, opens new window)
Devon County Council (external site, opens new window)
Duchy of Cornwall (external site, opens new window)
English Heritage (external site, opens new window)
Environment Agency (external site, opens new window)
Forestry Commission (external site, opens new window)
Ministry of Defence (external site, opens new window)
Natural England (external site, opens new window)
National Trust (external site, opens new window)
South Hams district council (external site, opens new window)
South West Lakes Trust (external site, opens new window)
South West Water (external site, opens new window)
Teignbridge District Council (external site, opens new window)
West Devon Borough Council (external site, opens new window)
Page updated 16 February 2009
