Livestock Grazing on Dartmoor National Park

Lord Roborough Excerpts

Thursday 18th June 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Roborough]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what consultation took place between Natural England and commons graziers before announcing plans to reduce livestock grazing on Dartmoor National Park by 75 per cent.

[Lord Roborough (Con)]

I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and declare my interests as a commons owner and non-grazing grazier on Dartmoor.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Katz) (Lab)]

My Lords, Natural England has not announced plans to reduce livestock grazing on Dartmoor by 75%. However, we recognise that changes to grazing regimes need to be carefully and sensitively handled and agreed to collectively, in order to address declines in wildlife and biodiversity. We expect Natural England and commons graziers to work collaboratively to develop more adaptive grazing arrangements, working with the Dartmoor Land Use Management Group.

[Lord Roborough (Con)]

My Lords, the latest ELMS agreements require a 50% reduction in grazing effort on the moor to be compliant, and that follows a historic 50% reduction. So I believe that the 75% figure is correct if farmers want to access the funds available. Natural England may not have been targeting the ponies on Dartmoor, but it should have known that a cumulative 75% reduction in grazing would impact pony stocking rates disproportionately, given their limited commercial value. That is a massive blunder. The Government’s arm’s-length body is trying to impose its centrally determined will over the legal rights of the graziers on Dartmoor and creating disastrous consequences for public acceptance of nature recovery efforts. What is the Minister doing to bring more control and accountability to Natural England’s performance? Will he step in and save the ponies?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

The obvious answer to the noble Lord’s last question is, of course, yes. I want to be absolutely crystal clear: Natural England has not recommended a cull of Dartmoor ponies. It does not have the power to do so, and it has not advised one. As a Government, we are clear that Dartmoor ponies have an important part to play in Dartmoor’s heritage and in continuing to support the habitats of Dartmoor. As the noble Lord referred to—indeed, the Fursdon review also referred to this, and we agree—Dartmoor is in dire ecological health, in part because of decades of inappropriate grazing. Our agrischemes are designed to fix the situation through changed grazing patterns. The Natural England chair, Tony Juniper, said that ponies are central to that approach, and he is right. The Dartmoor hill ponies are part of that solution, not the problem. They are safe under this Government.