Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks face 'painful' cuts

Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks are considering urgent measures to save money, including redundancies, selling off land and closing visitor centres.

Combined, the parks must cut around £1.3m over three years, bosses said.

Dartmoor National Park Authority is considering 15-20 redundancies.

The government said it provided £49m a year to England's national park authorities, but that it understood the "challenging financial circumstances".

Dartmoor National Park is a vast moorland area in Devon while Exmoor National Park straddles north Devon and Somerset.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed a three-year "flat-grant settlement" for the country's 10 national parks up to 2025/26 - meaning funding has been frozen.

Dartmoor National Park Authority said it would have to find £898,000 of savings up to 2026. It said it was on a "fixed income" of £3.8m a year up to that time, but that there could be more cuts in the next budget.

Chief executive Kevin Bishop said they were considering a "proposal" to close the National Park Visitor Centre in Princetown, which has 80,000 visitors a year and was home to Arthur Conan Doyle as he wrote Hound of the Baskervilles.

Mr Bishop said its closure would affect visitors, the local economy and school groups, adding: "However, the scale of the financial deficit necessitates hard decisions, we can't see any ready alternatives to closure.

He said the proposals were made "with a heavy heart and in the knowledge that they will have a profound impact on staff".

A final decision on the proposals would be made early in the new year, he said.

Sarah Bryan, chief executive of Exmoor National Park Authority, said this financial year they would receive £3.2m government funding compared to £4.1m in 2010.

Describing the situation as "very painful", Ms Bryan said possible measures included redundancies among their 60 staff, visitor centre closures and the shutting of the residential centre in Minehead, which hosts 2,000 young people every year.

She added: "In two years time the park won't look as it does now."

They may also be forced to sell land and buildings, she said, adding: "This could include moorland, woodland and our three centres. When you sell land and buildings they become less protected and less accessible to the public."

She said they had "struggled for the last 10 years", adding: "I've worked in national parks for nearly 30 years and I've never seen it anywhere near as bad as this."

Ms Bryan, who said government funding was topped up by around £1m through retail and estate income, added: "The government is now looking at the figures so it could be a lot worse in three years' time. Who knows how bad it could be."

Across the country's 10 national parks, there is a funding gap of £15.7m up to 2025/26, National Parks England said.

It said they had 80m visitors a year and played a central role in "the fight against the climate and biodiversity crises", but that they needed "significant government focus and resources" to meet those objectives.

"If we cannot deliver for the nation and environment in National Parks, then there is little chance of success elsewhere."

Dr Rose O'Neill, chief executive of Campaign for National Parks, said more investment was needed "urgently".

A Defra spokesman said the role of national park authorities was "vital" in protecting and enhancing national landscapes and they were supporting this with £49m a year.

He added: "We understand the very challenging financial circumstances currently facing all sectors and the pressures that this is putting on our National Park Authorities in particular.

"We remain committed to supporting our National Park Authorities and are working with them to identify additional sources of funding, particularly through private investment."

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