| Feedback on the scheme | Our reporter asked visitors for their views on the plan: - "It extends the advantage of the tourist, if there's an easy way of obtaining the beauty of this place it would be good value on its own."
- "It's a good idea, if it enhances it for other people then all well and good."
- "If people want to come up then it's fair enough. It's not just us, it's disabled people who can visit then as well, it's not going to change it dramatically so I think it's a good idea.
- "We're not getting any younger so it looks brilliant! I think it's good people can get about to where they want to go, I've nursed most of my life and I know people who would love to visit."
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Alex Murdin, a local artist, is hoping to give more people the chance to enjoy the view from the top of one of Devon's most iconic natural formations. Haytor is still one of the premier visitors spots on Dartmoor but the distance and the rough terrain makes it hard for even the most sure footed moor walker to make his way to the tor. Now, Alex's plan is to make it easier to reach for everyone. "My idea is to make Haytor completely accessible to disabled people and the elderly," said Alex as he outlined his plans for the site. "It's very practical, all it involves is a path up from the carpark which could be granite so it fits in quite well and a stairlift up the tor. "There's a lot of external stairlifts on the market and would last 50 years, it would be powered by solar electricity so it would be very sustainable and could last quite a long time."
 | | Alex Murdin |
The idea for the plan came from the various laws passed to help give more access tot he disabled. "It's a logical extension of things like the disability discrimination act that proposes all public buildings and urban places should be accessible," said Alex. "We hear a lot about the importance of equal access to the countryside. This planning application is designed to test the National Park's commitment to that. "I have a father with polio. Why should he have to sit in the car park?" The plan, which would rely on public funding, has now been handed in to Dartmoor National Park and all Alex can do is wait. One positive factor is the level of feedback he has received.
 | | The walk up the hill. |
"The feedback has been remarkably positive, people have been really interested in the idea," said Alex. "It's been enthusiastically received by people who have elderly or disabled relatives and can't get out to these types of spaces." Although Alex knows he'll get some negative comments it's a plan he says can not only work, but can become a blueprint for other sites. "This might sound like an outrageous idea but a good parallel would be a cable car up a mountain and there's plenty of those," he said. "The reason for having it at Haytor is that it's an extremely popular place to be, thousands of people come here anyway, if there are other places like this across the country you can see this kind of solution might actually work." | 
