THE Ministry of Defence has applied for consent to renew its use of Cramber Tor on Dartmoor for military training, amid calls from opponents for the Army to get off the moor.

Planning officials with Dartmoor National Park Authority will consider the Army's application to renew its licence, which has been submitted with an Environmental Statement, assessing the effects of continued dry training at Cramber Tor.

Dry training does not involve live ammunition and includes tactical exercises using blank rounds and pyrotechnics to represent the noise and fiction of battle.

The army has used the 2,000 acres of moorland north-east of Burrator Reservoir for dry training since 1981.

The environmental report states: 'The terrain of Cramber Tor and its size make it suitable for training in all types of operation'.

During the last five years, Cramber Tor has been used for dry training purposes on average 225 days per year, or 81 per cent of the total number of days available for training.

The report acknowledges there are some 'minor negative impacts on nature conservation associated with continuation of military dry training on Cramber Tor', but the MoD says it is committed to working with other bodies on strategic monitoring of the environmental management of training sites.

The report also considers the impact of noise from dry training activities at sensitive locations. 'The majority of military dry training activity on Cramber Tor such as walking, camping and hiding are inherently quiet.' The impact of helicopters used during training is said to be diminished by the short duration and irregularity of their deployment.

The report's overall conclusion states: 'It has been established that there is a continued need for military dry training at Cramber Tor, and that it is in the national interest that the use continues.

'There are some minor negative impacts associated with the current level of military dry training at Cramber Tor, but overall there is no material "harm" to the qualities of Dartmoor National Park, in terms of its nature conservation, archaeology and cultural heritage, public access and recreation, noise, landscape and visual character, water resources and land use and community effects.'

The Army's application to renew the consent was lodged with the national park authority through a Notice of Proposed Development (NOPD) on September 11, 2002.

The Open Spaces Society has condemned the Ministry of Defence's plans to renew access to Cramber Tor for training.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the society, said it was 'outrageous' the public had never been given the opportunity of an independent public inquiry into military training on Cramber Tor.

'The ministry has submitted a further application to the Dartmoor National Park Authority, to renew the licence for an unprecedented 20 years. This is an extremely long period — military practices could change out of all recognition in that time and the use of Dartmoor could become even more irrelevant'.

Ms Ashbrook said the military training was disturbing to the public who visited Dartmoor for relaxation. 'They do not expect to suffer the firing of blanks, pyrotechnics, helicopters and ambushes by camouflaged soldiers,' she said.

A campaign of opposition to the renewal of military training on Cramber Tor took place earlier this year, when members of the Dartmoor Preservation Association sent more than 600 postcards to the authority registering their official objection to army use of Cramber Tor.

The Army's environmental statement and a non-technical summary are available for inspection at public libraries in Tavistock, Princetown and Okehampton, at the High Moorland Visitor Centre in Princetown, West Devon Borough Council offices in Tavistock and the Dartmoor National Park Authority headquarters.

Permission for military use of Cramber Tor was first granted in 1981, and then renewed in 1992. The present licence expires at the end of November.