Better for People
Delivering the Vision
This section of the Partnership Plan contributes to achieving the Vision for Dartmoor in 2045 across all of its themes but primarily ‘A warm welcome for all: enriching people’s lives, reaching out to people from all backgrounds, connecting them with this special place. Transformative experiences will inspire people to care for the National Park’.
Introduction
It is important that everybody who wants to visit Dartmoor is able to do so and can enjoy the benefits that a visit to this special landscape can offer, including benefits to people’s health and well-being. We want to remove current barriers and offer a warm welcome for all; however, this will pose some significant challenges: currently car parks are full on nice weekends (all year round) and we are expecting visitor numbers to increase significantly over the next 10 years driven by new housing development outside the National Park.
Sometimes visitor behaviour or the sheer number of visitors to one part of the National Park causes conflict with local communities and those that manage the land, and it can cause harm to the fabric of the National Park and to conservation interests. There is a need to understand and review opportunities for improving the relevance of Dartmoor’s byelaws and their enforcement. In light of the declaration of a climate and ecological emergency, now is the time to plan strategically for this growth, to ask visitors to help us take care of and enhance the National Park through appropriate behaviour and consider how they can contribute to reducing carbon emissions through changing the way they travel to and around the National Park. A number of the actions may be achieved through a large-scale partnership project which enhances visitor engagement and improves opportunities for green travel.