Dartmoor Way Summary

THE DARTMOOR WAY PROJECT The project is managed by a Steering Group representing the statutory bodies DNPA and DCC together with business members. A Community Interest Company – the Dartmoor Way CIC has been established to take responsibility for finance and ongoing maintenance. The project aims to create a Way Marked walking route around the perimeter of Dartmoor, see below for an indicative map. The aim is to make the route much more accessible to the public who will be able to use the route without being proficient in map reading. A necessary element is good marketing of the new facility. This will be achieved by developing the existing Cycle Route web site and the use of a good public relations to support the launch and ongoing marketing. A volunteer team will deliver ongoing maintenance of the signing and the marketing. The planned outputs are believed to be the absolute minimum achievable. The project will deliver income to suppliers and businesses along the route not directly to the Dartmoor Way CIC. The absolute minimum target for additional income is £58,000. This is expected to create additional employment of 4.5 FTE. We are about to revise the original feasibility study to develop more accurate estimate of income. The Dartmoor Way Walking Route is Phase 3 of a multi-phase project. A Feasibility Study and the Cycle Route, have been delivered successfully by the Steering Group under EU funding rules. A similar approach will be used for this phase of the project. The project aims to increase tourist activity around the perimeter of Dartmoor. It will use existing rights of way and the route will be way marked to make it very easy to use. The route has been designed to link many of the hamlets, villages and towns on the edge of the moor to deliver tourists to the businesses in these locations and to encourage tourists to enjoy their special qualities. In the longer term, it will be possible to add themes such as wildlife, archaeology and gourmet trails. Elements of these themes will be included in the web site route descriptions from inception to inform our users and to indicate the long-term potential of the project. An important objective of the project is to get the way marked route back onto the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 mapping (OL 28) as a named route. OS policy has changed and only way marked routes are shown on their maps. Thus, the original Dartmoor Way was removed from OS mapping several years ago because of the lack of way marks. The project is a 167 kilometre (100 miles) route around Dartmoor. It is designed to deliver tourists to the towns and villages along the route such as Okehampton, Moretonhampstead, Chagford, Bovey Tracey, Ashburton. Buckfastleigh, Ivybridge, Yelveton and Tavistock. From a marketing viewpoint, it approaches (gets close to) but does not touch Plymouth, the road distance is about five miles. Walkers already use sections of the route and currently must be proficient in the use of OS maps to be sure of following the correct route. The provision of way marking and a downloadable PDF route description will make the route much more accessible to all without the need for map reading capability. It will increase the number of users giving direct benefits to businesses along the route. There is considerable support for the project from businesses and communities along the route. The project aims to deliver environmental benefits by encouraging users to follow the circular route between towns and villages without the need for car or bus transport throughout their holiday. Access to the rail network is possible at Newton Abbot, Ivybridge and Plymouth. Our route description will include information on walking and/or use of public transport to get to the Dartmoor Way from these stations. The project will contribute to the Health & Wellbeing strategy of the Government and Local Authorities by promoting healthy exercise in the open air. This project was conceived in 2009 when it was realised that the Dartmoor Way as originally designed (it was put in in about 2000) was inadequate. No signing was provided for the footpath route but the OS did name the Dartmoor Way on the 1:25,000 map. The routes did not form a properly circular route around the moor as the Southern moor was omitted. This project will complete a circular route around the whole moor. This provides the opportunity to market an almost unique product. Research to date has failed to identify a circular walking route with way marking in the UK. It will also be possible to get the route name back onto the Ordnance Survey OL 28 map (Dartmoor 1:25,000). The Dartmoor Way CIC is a newly established Community Interest Company. It is unlikely to make any revenue surplus as all the income from the route will accrue to the business community along the way. Public Rights of Way are free to users and maintenance costs are met by public funds. The CIC was set up to provide a vehicle for grant funding, such as the present application and to deliver ongoing maintenance. While the maintenance of the statutory footpath route is a public responsibility, the CIC becomes responsible for the new way mark signing on both the cycle and footpath routes, together with maintenance of the web site. This will be achieved with volunteers. The Directors of the CIC are volunteers, a volunteer team for the cycle route has been formed and planning for the footpath volunteer team will start at project inception. Contact: Tel: 01803 854828 George Coles Email: [email protected] Chair, Steering Group .

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