Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T20:12:36.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Born out of crisis’: Assessing the Legacy of the Exmoor Moorland Management Agreements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2009

MATT LOBLEY  and
MICHAEL WINTER
MATT LOBLEY
Affiliation:
Centre for Rural Policy Research, Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, Devon. EX4 4RJ, UK.
MICHAEL WINTER
Affiliation:
Centre for Rural Policy Research, Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, Devon. EX4 4RJ, UK.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Shortly after the designation of Exmoor National Park in 1954 the moorland that the park was charged with maintaining and enhancing came under threat from agricultural improvement. The ensuing ‘moorland conflict’ eventually led to a pioneering system of moorland management agreements. The moorland management agreements have an important place in the transformation of agricultural policy and the development and social acceptance amongst farmers and landowners of the concept that farmers should be paid for their stewardship of the environment. Drawing on published and unpublished documents, as well as extensive interviews, this paper revisits the origins of the problem of moorland reclamation, assesses the role played by key individuals in publicising the problem and promoting management agreements as a solution, considers the risks taken by those entering into management agreements, and identifies some of the tangible and intangible impacts of the moorland management agreement system.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , October 2009 , pp. 229 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, W. M. 1984. Implementing the Act: A Study of Habitat Protection under Section II of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Oxford).Google Scholar
Brotherton, I. 1990. ‘On the Rise and Demise of the Conflict in Exmoor’, Journal of Environmental Management 30, 353–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, E. 1977. Aspects of Land Use in the Exmoor National Park Critical Amenity Area (Exeter).Google Scholar
Burton, S. H. 1984. Exmoor (London).Google Scholar
Exmoor National Park Authority. 2001. Management Plan 2001–2006 (http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/Resources/Downloads/Management%20Plan%20(1–20).pdf)Google Scholar
Exmoor National Park Authority. 2003. State of the Park Report (Dulverton, Somerset).Google Scholar
Exmoor National Park Authority, Country Landowners’ Association, National Farmers’ Union. 1981. Management Agreements in Exmoor National Park (Dulverton, Somerset).Google Scholar
Exmoor Society, 1966. Can Exmoor Survive? A Technical Assessment (Barnstaple).Google Scholar
Halliday, B. 1974. Report of the National Park Review Committee (unpublished paper).Google Scholar
Land Use Consultants. 2004. Moorlands at a Crossroads: A Study on the State of Exmoor's Moorlands, Report to The Exmoor Society (Bristol).Google Scholar
Lowe, P., Cox, G.MacEwen, M.O'Riordan, T. and Winter, M.. 1986. Countryside Conflicts: The Politics of Farming, Forestry and Conservation (London).Google Scholar
MacEwen, A. and MacEwen, M.. 1982. National Parks: Conservation or Cosmetics ? (London).Google Scholar
MacEwen, M. 1991. The Greening of a Red (London).Google Scholar
Manning, C. 1994. ‘Rural Resource Allocation – A Multiple Criteria Decision Making Approach’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Exeter).Google Scholar
Porchester, Lord. 1977. A Study of Exmoor: Report to Great Britain Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (London).Google Scholar
Potter, C. 1988. ‘Environmentally Sensitive Areas: An Experiment in Countryside Management’, Land Use Policy 5, 301–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potter, C. 1998. Against the Grain: Agri-Environmental Reform in the United States and the European Union (Wallingford).Google Scholar
Sinclair, G.The Vegetation of Exmoor (Somerset).Google Scholar
Thomas, T. 1989 ‘The Concept, Use and Consequences of Exmoor Management Agreements’, (unpublished paper).Google Scholar
Whitby, M. 1994. Incentives for Countryside Management – The Case of the ESAs (Wallingford).Google Scholar
Winter, M. 1996. Rural Politics: Policies for Agriculture, Forestry and the Environment (London).Google Scholar