PLANS are afoot to triple public donations to Dartmoor.

Dartmoor National Park Authority’s ‘Donate for Dartmoor’ scheme has raised £84,000 since 2020 to support nature projects, but has been fairly static for the last three years.

The authority has no one to run the fund and can’t accept contactless payments, so relies on people dropping in coins at its three visitor centres and online donations.

On top of this, it plans to close its Princetown visitor centre later this year, because of financial pressures.

The aim is to hand Donate for Dartmoor to the authority’s new charity Dartmoor Futures which will be able to offer contactless payments, attract gift aid and have capacity to run and promote it.

But DNPA members have put the brakes on that until charitable status is secured and they know more about what Dartmoor Futures can do and how the money will be spent.

Philip Sanders said at an authority meeting last week it is ‘a good move but the wrong time’.

Sally Morgan said Dartmoor Futures had not even got a website or a public presence and she would like to see a little more ‘proactiveness'.

‘I know they are waiting on the Charity Commission, but we need to be very careful about how Donate for Dartmoor is managed, as this is public money.’

James McInnes said he totally supported Dartmoor Futures but asking members to authorise the chief executive and chair to negotiate an agreement for transfer of the fund is ‘a tiny bit too soon’.

‘Dartmoor Futures is a really big thing for us. We want it to start off properly. Once it’s got charitable status, we can show our confidence and support for it as authority,’ he said.

Director of conservation and communities for DNPA Richard Drysdale said national park members sat on the board of Dartmoor Futures and would have a say in how money was spent.

Cash would be available in the form of micro-grants which groups could apply for, but the fund would also pay for the development of Dartmoor Futures and some overheads, he said.

Mr Drysdale said the largest single donation to Donate to Dartmoor was from the entrance fee to Ten Tors, which raises £4,000 a year. DNPA would continue to manage that money.

A report for the authority said that all money received from Donate for Dartmoor to date had been used for conservation and access projects.

Mr Drysdale said by reaching a wider audience and corporate engagement, Dartmoor Futures could triple the amount raised in the next three to four years.

He said there was no capacity for the park to run the scheme.

Dartmoor Futures was set up to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the act of parliament that established national parks in England.