Dartmoor Training Area

Environmental Assessment Overview

The Process

Environmental Assessment Overview

The MoD’s principal licence to train on Dartmoor Training Area expires in 2012.
To ensure that the Armed Forces can maintain their high state of operational readiness, without interruption, the extensive process of study, review and public consultation prior to re-negotiation has now begun.

Prior to any re-negotiation, the Secretary of State for Defence requires clear evidence of the following assertions:

• There is a clear military need for both live firing and dry training on Dartmoor Training Area.

• Management of the Dartmoor Training area for military activities will continue to be sensitive to environmental issues, farming and public access.

A report, produced by an independent consultant, on The Continuing Need for Military Training on Dartmoor concluded that "Dartmoor makes an essential contribution to the delivery of light force training and therefore remains a key (MoD) asset".

This report has been reinforced by a second report – 'The Need for Military Training on Defence Training Estate South West (DTE SW)' (PDF, 4.7 Mb) – produced by Headquarters Defence Training Estate (MOD), which recommends that “No action should be taken to reduce in size or attempt to limit the scope of training carried out on any of the training areas and ranges located in DTE SW”.

Further work has taken place to inform potential future military options. This report is available here.

To provide evidence for the second assertion, Defence Training Estates, with the support of Entec UK Ltd, undertook a consultative process of the potential environmental effects of military activities at the present permitted levels within the exisiting boundaries. The process used mirrored that used for planning applications. The first stage was a Scoping Report describing the issues to be researched and the methodology to be used during the Environmental Appraisal. To ensure the deepest possible collaboration, four working groups were established with agreed terms of reference, chaired by an MoD environmental specialist with Statutory Body subject matter experts as members providing knowledgeable advice. Each working group addressed a key aspect identified in the Scoping Report; Cultural Heritage, Land Use & Local Communities, Nature Conservation and Public Access. Their work assisted greatly in compiling the Environmental Appraisal, which is available for download here.

As a result of questions being raised, an addendum to the Environmental Appraisal has been produced answering the comments. This is available for download here.

Many studies have been conducted to ensure MoD’s effective management of its responsibilities for military activities on Dartmoor. Those concerning conservation and public access can be found in the respective sections. Tourism Associates of Exeter have examined the socio economic effects of military activities and published a detailed report. This has been augmented by a survey of soldier spend - download here.

This figure - Evaluation of the impact of sediment on breeding Salmonids across Dartmoor Training Area (964 Kb), produced by DTE, illustrates the results from survey work in relation to breeding salmonids in watercourses draining from DTA, as discussed in paragraph 9.5.84 of the Environmental Appraisal Main Report.