COLONEL Nutting suggests I am not qualified to judge whether or not the military need to use and abuse the Dartmoor National Park.
He is of course perfectly correct. But then the Dartmoor Preservation Association is not a one-man band, but an association of some 2500 members, some of whom have considerable military experience.
I also have access to recent past serving and current serving members of HM Forces. I am very well briefed by them all on just what is and what isn't a military need — as I would be happy to prove at an independent public inquiry if only Lt-Colonel Nutting would be prepared to come to one to justify his exaggerated claims.
And I do have considerable experience of the needs of Dartmoor to be a proper National Park, with all that that implies in economic benefits for the region. And those benefits can be achieved without the need to endanger the life of one British soldier.
John Bainbridge
Chief executive
Dartmoor Preservation Association
LT Col Nutting claims that Dartmoor is 'ideal' for military training. How can it be when the military has to stop firing at weekends and public holidays and in August, to allow people to enjoy this unique and beautiful area?
How can it be when the military have to take enormous care to avoid damaging the thousands of ancient monuments on the moor or killing any stock which roams there?
How can it be when any new development is subject to strict scrutiny by the Dartmoor National Park Authority?
It is well known that military training and national parks are incompatible. It's time the military was forced to look for alternative sites and alternative means of training.
Kate Ashbrook
General secretary
Open Spaces Society
25A Bell Street
Henley-on-Thames