Dartmoor finances facing biggest cut for years

'Do DEFRA think the Dartmoor pixie exists?'

The government has been accused of acting as if the Dartmoor Pixie is taking care of the moor’s finances.

Chief executive Kevin Bishop outlined some of the challenges the moor is facing at a meeting of the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA).

He said an 8.2 per cent cut in the revenue budget coming from the government would amount to a 10 per cent cut once the new National Insurance arrangements for employers had been factored in. The cut will be the biggest for years.

And, he said, the authority may have to look at restructuring as a way of avoiding redundancies. 

“This is huge, and this is vital,” said DNPA member Sally Morgan. “It makes me proud to be part of this organisation that we are still managing to do really good work under such difficult circumstances."

Referencing the government's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs she went on: “I wonder what DEFRA think we are doing? I wonder if they think the Dartmoor Pixie exists?

“Who do they think is doing all this?”

She said the delivery of projects on the moor was ‘superb’, but the resources coming from the government were ‘shocking’.

DNPA member Philip Sanders complained that for the second year in succession the authority was going into the financial year not knowing what money it was getting in a grant from the government.

Dr Bishop went on: “This is the biggest single cut that we've had to revenue funding since I've been in post, but members have agreed that they will use reserves for this financial year, so we don’t have to rush into any restructuring.

“The key thing for us now is what happens with the government's spending review, which will be announced in June.”

He said the uncertainty around the government’s financial support made it impossible to plan ahead.

“We hope the government will listen. We would hope that national parks, our finest landscapes, are the government's top priority, but I'm not certain they are.”

Authority member James McInnes also warned against any restructure that could compromise the independence of the DNPA.

“This has always been a place that isn’t party political,” he said. “When we walk through that door we’re here for Dartmoor, and we need to make the government understand that.”