Meeting date: Tuesday 12 May 2026
The meeting was attended by 38 people including the parish council, West Devon and Devon County Councillors and representatives of most of the major bodies represented in the village.
The Clerk started the meeting at 6:05 pm by welcoming everyone and outlining briefly the purpose of the meeting as an opportunity for parishioners to gather and raise questions or concerns they may have about life in the village, or to make suggestions for the future.
Steve Hill – a Trustee of the Nicholls Hall reviewed the past year for the Hall and outlined the Trustees’ plans for the year ahead. Steve explained that there have been a number of different events at the Hall, some more successful than others.
The Hall now has a drinks license. Trustees feel a responsibility to provide community events, although these seldom cover the costs of putting them on. The recent series of “meet and eat” events was regrettably not well attended and has been cancelled, as have the Bistro evenings.
Trustees would welcome suggestions for other community and fund raising activities.
The Hall is just about managing to balance income and expenditure. However there is some maintenance work and improvements which need doing, for which Trustees are hoping to get some grant funding.
Richard Hollingsworth spoke for the Sportsfield. He explained that the website is now up to date and covers the present issues in greater detail. Trustees broke even through last financial year with the Summer fair raising £2,500, most of which was spent on maintenance costs. Trustees were able to upgrades the kitchen courtesy of a donation.
The field and pavilion are under-used, with only one paying event this year to date. The Summer Fair has been cancelled. No groups or sports clubs use the field or the pavilion now that the Lydford Foxes have left.
Trustees are investigating other possible uses for the field; allotments, community gardens, wildlife meadow or an orchard. There is a questionnaire which Trustees would appreciate parishioners completing that will be used to guide their decisions. This can be completed online at the website or hard copies are available.
There are only two Trustees, and volunteers would be appreciated.
Sue Powne reminded those present that the parish is organising a celebration of Devon Day this year, to take place at the field on Saturday 6th June.
Richard Drysdale spoke for Dartmoor National Park Authority. On the matter of the car park; the charges raised almost exactly what was predicted; the public toilets are open for use again as of today, and are being regularly cleaned. They will be closed as usual from Autumn Half Term until the following Easter break, during which time it is expected that they will be remodelled to include disabled toilet if possible. Two disabled bays will be painted on the car park soon. DNPA are looking at possibly trialling a reduction in the cost for parking for a short period of 90 - 120 minutes starting possibly in early June 2026. Parishioners raised their concerns about the displaced parking and its impact upon local resident. Richard explained that there was very little that the DNPA could do about that problem and referred parishioners to Devon Highways. Questions were asked about whether DNPA could restrict parking in the splay area leading into the car park as this was obstructing vision for drivers exiting onto the highway. It was explained that this area is owned by - and is the responsibility of - Devon Highways.
Richard stated that 2026 is the 75th anniversary of the creation of National Park. There are a number of activities planned to celebrate this event and to fund the work of the Park going forward. Details are available on the Dartmoor website.
Kit Hancock – Dartmoor Ranger for the Lydford area stated that the Authority had installed a new bridge over the River Lyd at High Down. Although the bridge has the appearance of a wooden construction it has a galvanised steel core.
Working with the parish council, DNPA Access Officer is investigating ways of improving the surface of Bridleway 2a – which gives visitors access to the Ancient Spring.
The field wall at Nodden Gate has been reported as slowly deteriorating, and is being repaired by Commoners. DNPA will be replacing the gate there soon.
Simon Thompson – Lydford Gorge. Management is now divided between the Gorge, Finch Foundry and Castle Drogo. Simon cited a number of examples of damage caused to paths during the winter storms of 2025 – 26. Most footpaths have now been repaired but a small number remain restricted. At the Waterfall end of the site rangers have installed ponds and restored paths by the old railway line and a new viewing area for disabled visitors. A planning application has been submitted to renew and enlarge the bird hide. Simon reported that a large amount of the exposed rock face near the Devil’s Cauldron has moved due to water ingress. That section was closed whilst repairs were completed but it is now open again. Visitors need to be aware that climate change events are frequently re-arranging fixtures and walkways in the park.
EV chargers have been installed in the car park at the Waterfall end of the site. The electricity infrastructure in Lydford means that there is no possibility of installing chargers at the Devil’s Cauldron end because of supply issues.
Complaints have been received by the National Trust about visitors to the Gorge walking on the roadway between the Cauldron and Waterfall entrances. The staff do try to encourage visitors to use the footpath at the site but this is not always successful.
Otters have been seen in the Gorge. The Trust are looking to install wildlife cameras, and organising drone flights with permission from DNPA to get a better understanding of where they are living.
Jared Lothian – Dartmoor Inn. The pub regretted the disruption caused by visitors to last November’s Fireworks event. Jared explained that whilst staff had spent a long time trying to organise visitors to ensure the disruption was minimised, he felt that he would probably end up cancelling the event because of the work required to deal with parking. It was suggested that he could look at other locations, perhaps the sports field, although parking would remain an issue because of the large number of cars that arrived. Simon Thompson suggested that an arrangement could be reached to allow parking at the Gorge site.
Steve Hulett from the parish council presented the Chairman’s Report, outlining the issues faced by the council through the year and what actions the council had taken. The full report will be available online.
Steve proposed that the action points for the council for the coming year should be: Enhance access to the Ancient Spring; reinstate and develop the council’s prior work on the 20’s Plenty initiative with the ambition of bringing in a 20mph speed limit through the village, and furthering the council’s work on the provision of affordable housing within the village. These suggestions were accepted and no other suggestions were forthcoming.
A proposal was made that the Sportsfield and the Hall Trustees could solve their recruitment problems by amalgamating. This was supported by Councillor Fife-Cook who explained that Trustees of the Hall and the Recreation Ground at Mary Tavy had amalgamated their Trusts with great success. The suggestion was received by Trustees of both Trusts present at the meeting.
A question was raised by a parishioner from Hawthorn Park, unhappy that she had not been notified of the planning application for the vacant lot in Hawthorn Park and that the first she knew of the application was when she read the council’s response in the meeting agenda.
Meeting closed 19:50