From Steven Pugsley, Leader of West Somerset District Council

In 1998 West Somerset District Council, supported by the Exmoor National Park, North Devon District Council, the Exmoor Society, and various other bodies, commissioned a study into the 'Economic, Social and Environmental Aspects into Hunting with Hounds in West Somerset and Exmoor.

The study was designed to produce objective evidence which could be used to better inform the debate about any proposed ban on hunting and suggest forms of action should a ban be implemented.

The study was conducted by the Centre for Rural Studies at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester and was presented in February 1999. The survey methodologies included a literature review; interviews with officials from all relevant hunts; an updated postal survey of respondents to the 1991/1992 deerhunting survey; a postal survey of foxhound, harrier and beagle subscribers; a postal survey of the Quantock Staghound subscribers; a postal and telephone survey of local businesses; interview and telephone survey with key informants; a telephone survey of local estate agents; and a survey of two parish case studies (Exford and Stogursey).

The study concluded that over 400 full time equivalent jobs in the area would be at risk in the event of a ban. In the less remote parts of the study area and in the lives of those for whom hunting plays no part, a ban might barely be noticed. But in the small rural communities where hunting plays a disproportionately larger role in providing employment and recreation, a ban would pose a severe challenge.

Link to 'Executive Summary of Report to the REWG of WSDC'
Read an executive summary of the report that prompted the formation of Endangered Exmoor - the facts that all Exmoor residents know only too well, in print.