CAPPING the number of people attending events on Dartmoor may be considered, following a large increase in participants and concern that entertainment is taking priority over industry.

Since 2011 the number of organised recreational and leisure events on the moor has risen from 80 to 110 and the number of participants from 13,978 to 18,205.

Discussions have taken place between the national park, common land owners, farmers and two of the biggest land owners on the moor the Duchy of Cornwall and Maristowe Estates after concerns were raised, particularly with the amount of cycling events taking place.

Farmer Mary Alford said: 'The numbers of participants is getting huge and quite a lot of damage is being done to the moor with worn paths. Dartmoor is not a playground as it is described in the press, but a living, working landscape.

'People living and working in the national park must be given priority over entertainment. It is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers to work with stock on the moor at weekends because of the sheer number of people walking.

'We are not against events taking place but there needs to be a sensible balance.'

She said it needed to be made clearer to cyclists that they could not just cycle anywhere on the commons but just on the cycle paths and bridleways.

Neil Cole, who is also a farmer, said when foot and mouth disease hit the area and the public were banned from the moors, there was more wildlife and birds around.

'We are pro the public because obviously they are vital to the tourist industry, but we would like to see more management of the public on the commons. The national park wardens need more powers and there needs to be more education of the public regarding the countryside generally.'

Manager of Maristowe Estates Jo Hess said: 'We certainly do not want to be killjoys and we are very, very open minded to these events, most of which are charitable.

'This weekend we are providing the use of Roborough Down for free for an estimated 1,500 people in the St Luke's Hospice's Tour de Moor.

'It is all about the moor being used in a well organised managed system that does not impact negatively on any of the other parties that are involved in land management and farming on Dartmoor.'

The Duchy of Cornwall owns 67,500 acres of land on Dartmoor. Tom Stratton from the Duchy's Dartmoor office said the scheme that was started a year ago by the national park where organisations paid £1 for each person taking part in an event and then the money ploughed back into a conservation scheme for the moor was a good one.

He said: 'It is a discretionary scheme, but we would like the national park to push it a bit harder. The national park has clear guidelines on planning events but by all getting together and discussing the issue I think we can strike a good balance between the continuation of the farming environment and providing access for recreation.'

Head of recreation, access and estates at Dartmoor National Park Andrew Watson said everyone around the table recognised the importance of these events to the organisers concerned for fundraising or providing opportunities for people to experience Dartmoor, challenge themselves and so on.

'The idea of capping numbers was discussed as a possibility which we have agreed to look at and develop some criteria which could then be discussed with events organisers and land managers,' he said.