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A new project has launched to help make the Dartmoor National Park in Devon more accessible to those who use wheelchairs, mobility scooters and pushchairs. The project, Miles Without Stiles, is opening up stile free, easily accessible routes across the park with five routes now available.

Miles Without Stiles and organisations that look after Dartmoor are opening to increase the number of wheelchair accessible routes to 15 or 20 in the next three years or so. The current open routes include Princetown to Nun’s Cross, Bellever Forest and Merrivale Stone Rows.

Tim Russell, project lead, said: “It is basically what it says on the tin, it is miles without stiles.” Speaking to the press, he said that the new project was vital and that it meant people could access moorland without having to worry about obstacles such as stiles, which many people find difficult.

The work to open up accessible routes includes negotiating with landowners, resurfacing areas, building bridges and replacing stiles with gates. Miles Without Stiles are working with the Dartmoor Wheelchair Access Group to identify and test routes through the park.

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