Exmoor -

Exmoor - United against threats to culture, countryside and community
by Guy Everard, Exmoor Hill Farmer

During the last three years the clamour from the countryside has increased in direct proportion to the hardships being heaped on it. These problems are all too apparent on Exmoor. The smallest of the National Parks is no longer being gently buffeted by the waves of the Bristol Channel on its northern boundary, but is being shaken on all sides by the indifference of politicians and single issue pessure groups. The two main issues in rural Britain are very much in evidence on Exmoor. The keystone of the local economy is hill farming. There are more packs of hounds per square kilometre on Exmoor than anywhere else in England.

According to Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) Statistics in 1997/8 the average Hill Farmer's net income was £13,600. MAFF forecasts for 1999/2000 show this sum diminishing to just £4,500. Hill farmers have been told by successive Ministers that the work they carry out in maintaining the upland landscape is held in high regard and whilst support mechanisms to other agricultural sectors may have to be rationalised, support for Hill Farming would continue in recognition of the importance of hill farming to upland landscapes and communities. Such words now ring hollow in the ears of Exmoor farmers who have recently learnt that the main means of supporting hill farming, "The Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance" (HLCA) is being reviewed and the present budget for HLCA payments in England will be cut by a staggering 32% over the next 4 years.

It has become apparent to Exmoor people that the same empty promises about support for hill farming apply to politicians giving balanced and open-minded consideration to hunting. The recent government inquiry into hunting chaired by Lord Burns recognised that hunting formed a significant part of the local economy on Exmoor and that deer hunting fostered a "community of interest" that managed the deer herd. Deer hunting operates as a force of conservation. Almost every member of the farming community supports the hunt and this safeguards the deer herd's continuing existence. Despite the damage that deer do to crops and their value as venison, farmers refrain from shooting deer because of hunting.

A clear example of how determinedly ignorant MPs are prepared to be about hunting was recently demonstrated by Ms Jackie Ballard MP who on BBC's Question Time described deer hunting as barbaric and then admitted that she had never witnessed any deer hunting. This is all the more astonishing coming as it did from the MP for Taunton in whose constituency part of Exmoor lies.

Exmoor has now adopted the thinking of a respected politician and native of Exmoor - Ernest Bevin. As this old Labour minister succeeded in defending the interests of the poorly represented by forming Britain's largest trade union (Transport and General Workers), so the people of Exmoor are united behind the banner of Endangered Exmoor. Endangered Exmoor was formed in 1999 in the light of the West Somerset District Council rural survey that highlighted the severe effects on the area in the event of a hunt ban.