National Parks are national treasures, the jewels in the crown of our beautiful countryside. It is the natural beauty of these landscapes that justifies Exmoor’s status as a National Park, and is the primary draw for visitors. National Parks are the nation’s breathing spaces, and Exmoor is one of the few upland areas in southern Britain, where people can enjoy remoteness, wildness and tranquillity, to refresh their spirits and recharge their batteries.

Exmoor’s varied landscape offers the natural beauty of open moorland, steep wooded river valleys, dramatic coast and distinctive farmland shaped by natural and human processes.

“Nowhere else in Britain can greater variety of scene be found than within the comparatively small territory of the Exmoor National Park”  SH Burton 1975

Exmoor National Park was certified as the first International Dark Sky Reserve in Europe and provides extensive opportunities and observation sites for experiencing our spectacular starry skies. The designation also helps to reduce light pollution and protect nocturnal residents of the National Park such as bats and moths.

Exmoor’s historic landscapes also provide an irreplaceable record of how people have lived here for thousands of years. Exmoor has a long history of human settlement, from small towns and picturesque villages, to tiny hamlets and isolated farmsteads, which reflect the changing fortunes of the communities who have lived here.  Each settlement has its own character, with diverse vernacular building styles and materials that reflect local geology and traditions. The use of traditional building materials and techniques all contribute to what makes Exmoor unique. It’s vital to support and promote that knowledge and skills if we are to protect and enhance the assets in our Historic Environment.

Within the National Park there are 17 Conservation Areas and over ten thousand archaeological sites and historic buildings, all helping to tell the story of Exmoor and conserving that story for future generations to learn from and enjoy. Exmoor is particularly important because there are so many undisturbed archaeological sites and monuments, and undoubtably more to be discovered. Exmoor’s peatlands contain a rich and rare archive charting how the environment has changed over the last 8,000 years.

However, many historic assets are undesignated and lack statutory protection, and there are a growing number of threats to both designated and undesignated heritage assets. The Plan therefore includes a target of increasing designation coverage. Where other areas of the plan may pose a risk to heritage, such as land use change associated with nature recovery or coastal erosion associated with climate change, the affected areas should be prioritised for review of potential designations.

The National Park is not immune to the pressures of modern life, such as the need for telecommunications masts to enable mobile phone and broadband coverage, or increased number and size of agricultural barns to meet animal welfare standards. Changes to climate and land management are leading to small but incremental changes in vegetation and landscape character.

Exmoor’s landscapes and heritage have changed over time and will continue to change, adapt and evolve. This will need ongoing careful management to ensure that changes are sympathetic to the character and history of the National Park. The planning system is an important tool to manage some pressures, and the National Park designation and local planning policies rightly provide protection against unsympathetic or large-scale development, but also allow the changes needed to allow people to continue to live, work and visit. However, there are concerns that some national changes to planning may weaken these protections. Land management changes are not subject to the same controls, but will be influenced mainly by the new funding schemes including the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Environmental Land Management Schemes. Increasingly, the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to restore nature, mean that there will be other changes which will need to be carefully woven into Exmoor’s landscape character and cultural heritage, being mindful of how the past may play a significant role in informing future change.  Wherever possible the aims of the plan will be pursued in an integrated way, for example by considering potential opportunities and risks for the historic environment when delivering nature recovery and net zero proposals.

Ultimately it is through engaging people with Exmoor’s special landscapes, historic and built environment that will build understanding, helping to value, care for and protect these assets, and ensure that the fascinating stories of Exmoor’s history, landscape and communities continue to be told.

• D1 Ensure development and land-use change recognises landscape character and enhances natural beauty including impacts on the setting of and views from the National Park
  D2 Conserve and enhance landscape character through management of characteristic features including hedgebanks, hay meadows, stone walls, traditional farm buildings, orchards, ponds, leats and gutter systems
  D3 Reduce light pollution across the whole National Park Dark Sky reserve to conserve and enhance the quality of the night sky
• D4 Reduce the number of nationally and locally designated heritage assets at risk  
• D5 Improve the protection of heritage assets by designating new national heritage assets (listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments) by 2030 and increasing the local list of heritage assets by 25% by 2030
• D6 Promote engagement with Exmoor’s historic environment through the Historic Environment Record and increase the number of records accessed by 5% by 2030 (from a 2024 baseline)
• D7 Protect the character of Conservation Areas and promote positive management, ensuring all Conservation Areas have up to date appraisals and management plans
• D8 Conserve and enhance historic streetscapes and rural roads through maintenance and repairs to historic fabric including bridges, walls and paving, and reduction of unnecessary highway clutter, lighting, and road markings
• D9 Improve understanding of the impacts of climate change on heritage assets and support adaptation and resilience measures which balance carbon reduction and energy saving with the conservation of their significance