The Countryside Alliance warmly welcomes the government’s decision to protect the future of Dartmoor’s iconic semi-wild hill ponies, while supporting the farmers and commoners who graze them.
Just one month ago, the Alliance highlighted growing concern that changes to Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) agreements could leave graziers facing an impossible choice between retaining their ponies and maintaining commercially important herds of cattle and sheep. We argued that the government should implement the recommendation in the Independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor, the Fursdon Review, to exclude ponies from overall stocking density calculations when requiring reductions for environmental purposes. By doing so it would remove any incentive to reduce their numbers.
Yesterday (15 July) the government announced it will do exactly that.
Under the new arrangements, Dartmoor ponies will no longer be counted in stocking rate calculations for new Environmental Management agreements, ensuring farmers will not have to choose between keeping ponies and maintaining a viable livestock business. The government has also announced a dedicated pony supplement within farming schemes and committed to monitoring pony numbers to ensure they remain stable.
These measures implement one of the Fursdon Review's clearest recommendations and represent a significant step towards safeguarding one of Britain's oldest and most distinctive grazing traditions.
The Countryside Alliance has consistently argued that Dartmoor’s semi-wild pony population is an irreplaceable part of our natural and cultural heritage. These ponies have shaped the landscape for centuries, contribute to conservation grazing and are central to Dartmoor’s identity. Protecting them should not come at the expense of the livelihoods of the farming families who care for them, but there was never any need for these interests to conflict.
While further work remains to develop a long-term grazing framework for Dartmoor, the government’s announcement brings welcome reassurance that both the ponies and the people who manage the moor have a secure future.
We are pleased that on this occasion the government has listened to the evidence, acted on the recommendations of an independent review and responded to the strength of public concern. Alongside the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association and other local campaigners, the Countryside Alliance is pleased to have played its part in making the case for this important change.