[Diggers350] Court of Appeal gives green light for wild camping on Dartmoor

Thu Aug 3 22:32:40 BST 2023

Court of Appeal gives green light for wild camping on Dartmoor

https://tlio.org.uk/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-court-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/
<https://tlio.org.uk/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-court-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/>3 
August 2023 
<https://tlio.org.uk/author/tony/>Tony Gosling 
<https://tlio.org.uk/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-court-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/#respond>Leave 
a comment

31Jul23  Court of Appeal gives green light for wild camping on Dartmoor

<https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-07-31/court-of-appeal-gives-green-light-for-wild-camping-on-dartmoor>https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-07-31/court-of-appeal-gives-green-light-for-wild-camping-on-dartmoor

The Court of Appeal ruling comes after a High 
Court ruled that legislation did not allow people 
to wild camp on Dartmoor Commons earlier this year

Emacs!

Wild camping is legal again on much of Dartmoor - 
31Jul23 BBC Spotlight report   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrzYDia6IgA

Members of the public have the right to wild camp 
in Dartmoor National Park, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

In January, a High Court judge ruled 
<https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-01-13/wild-camping-ruling-huge-step-backward-as-campaigners-prepare-to-go-to-war>a 
nearly 40-year-old piece of legislation did not 
give people the right to pitch tents overnight on 
Dartmoor Commons without landowners permission.

Alexander and Diana Darwall brought a successful 
legal challenge against the Dartmoor National 
Park Authority (DNPA), claiming some campers 
cause problems to livestock and the environment.

<https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-07-18/court-of-appeal-hears-challenge-over-right-to-wild-camp-on-dartmoor>Earlier 
this month, the DNPA asked appeal judges to 
overturn Sir Julian Flauxs decision, arguing he 
had the wrong interpretation of a 1985 law over 
rights of access to Dartmoor Commons.

In a ruling on Monday, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord 
Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Newey granted 
the appeal, finding that the law confers on 
members of the public the right to rest or sleep 
on the Dartmoor Commons, whether by day or night 
and whether in a tent or otherwise as long as byelaws are followed.

Sir Julian had previously found that the meaning 
of the legislation was clear and unambiguous in 
that it conferred a right to roam which did not 
include a right to wild camp without permission.

His judgment was labelled a huge step backwards 
by campaigners who claimed there was a 
long-established precedent of wild camping in the national park in Devon.

Dartmoor National Park, designated in 1951, 
covers a 368-square mile area that features 
commons areas of unenclosed privately owned 
moorland where locals can put livestock.

The DNPA previously said backpack campers can 
access nearly 52,000 acres of common land across 
the national park and can stay overnight under a 
new permissive system as long as they follow a code of conduct.

Dartmoor wild camping to resume after appeal win

Emacs!

<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66341778>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66341778

The hearing, which took place two weeks ago 
included some bizarre exchanges between the lawyers and judges.

Timothy Morshead KC acting for the Darwalls, had 
argued that sleep cannot be considered to be 
recreation as you are not conscious.

But Sir Geoffrey Vos, one of the judges presiding 
said there was no difference between a walker or 
painter who rested on the ground after their 
activity and fell asleep and a walker that came 
into the park and erected a tent.

Morshead said that the Darwalls took objection to 
the erection of tent structures.

The judges proceeded to ask him where the line 
should be drawn on erecting structures  would 
inflatable goalposts from Argos for children to 
play football be allowed, they asked?

Tim Straker KC acting for the Park and OSS said 
the practice of wild camping does not involve 
significant structures like camper vans which on 
Dartmoor are directed to designated or registered sites.

The victory was met with delight by environmental 
charities and campaigners on Monday after the verdict broke.

Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, said it was a 
huge win for re-establishing our connection with 
nature and the land we call home.

Guy Shrubsole, co-founder of campaign group Right 
to Roam, said this was not the end of the fight for land rights.

He called for a new Right to Roam Act for England 
so that wild camping can be extended beyond Dartmoor.

Emacs!

<https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/news/court-of-appeal-hears-challenge-over-right-to-wild-camp-on-dartmoor/vi-AA1e29GC>Note: 
this thinly veiled pantheist rewilding report 
with Green MP Caroline Lucas and group faces 
painted with eyes in triangles. Part of the XR 
related anti-Russia Zero Carbon Green extremist 
faction appear to have powerful enough 
connections to swing this High Court decision

Dartmoor wild camping ban lifted as campaigners 
win court battle against wealthy landowners

<https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/ar-AA1eAIBX>https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/ar-AA1eAIBX

Campaigners have won an appeal for the right to 
camp on 
<https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/dartmoor>Dartmoor 
National Park in 
<https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/devon>Devon 
in the latest twist in an ongoing row between 
nature enthusiasts and a wealthy couple who own part of the land.

The bitter dispute began when Alexander and Diana 
Darwall argued that some wild campers on their 
land caused problems to livestock and the 
environment and sought a court declaration that 
members of the public could only pitch tents 
there overnight with their consent.

Emacs!

Mr and Mrs Darwall 
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/dartmoor-kevin-bishop-caroline-lucas-alexander-high-court-b2261626.html>won 
their High Court challenge against the Dartmoor 
National Park Authority (DNPA) in January, 
banning people from pitching up on their estate 
without consent sparking one of the 
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-alexander-darwall-b2271183.html>largest-ever 
protests over public access to Englands countryside.

Ruling in favour of the couple in January, 
Justice Sir Julian Flaux decided that a 1985 law, 
which regulates access to moorland, did not provide a right to wild camp.

But the park authority urged appeal judges to 
overturn his decision, arguing he had the wrong 
interpretation of the nearly 40-year-old legislation.

In a ruling on Monday, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord 
Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Newey granted 
the appeal, finding that the law confers on 
members of the public the right to rest or sleep 
on the Dartmoor Commons, whether by day or night 
and whether in a tent or otherwise as long as bylaws are followed.

The critical question in the case was whether the 
court deemed wild camping to count as open-air 
recreation, and whether it should therefore be 
permitted on the Commons, said Sir Geoffrey.

He said: The fact that a tent is closed rather 
than open cannot convert the wild camping from 
being an open-air recreation into not being one. 
In my judgment, that walker is still resting by 
sleeping and undertaking an essential part of the recreation.

Lord Justice Underhill, who agreed with Sir 
Geoffrey, added: Many people take pleasure in the 
experience of sleeping in a tent in open country, 
typically, though not invariably, as part of a 
wider experience of walking across country, and 
perhaps engaging in other open-air recreations 
such as birdwatching, during the day.

It is a perfectly natural use of language to 
describe that as a recreation, and also as 
occurring in the open air notwithstanding that 
while the camper is actually in the tent the 
outside air will be to some extent excluded.

Welcoming the verdict, park authoritys chair 
Pamela Woods, said: We are delighted with the 
Court of Appeals conclusions in this landmark case.

We firmly believed the legislation which formed 
the focus of this case the Dartmoor Commons Act 
allowed for backpack camping on certain areas of 
common land as a form of open-air recreation 
without the need to get landowners permission first.

Mr and Mrs Darwall keep cattle on Stall Moor, 
which forms part of their more than 3,450-acre 
estate in the southern part of Dartmoor, purchased in 2013.

Their initial victory at the High Court in 
January saw thousands of demonstrators take part 
in a protest organised by the group Right to 
Roam, with walkers carrying handpainted signs 
reading please sir, I want some Moor and the 
peasants are revolting through Cornwood village and past the Stall Moor.

Sir Julian had previously found at the High Court 
that the meaning of the 1985 legislation was 
clear and unambiguous in that it conferred a 
right to roam which did not include a right to wild camp without permission.

His now-overturned judgment was labelled a huge 
step backward by campaigners, who said there was 
a long-established precedent of wild camping in 
Dartmoor, which was designated a national park in 1951.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open 
Spaces Society, which intervened in the case, 
said in a statement: This is an excellent 
outcome, we are relieved that the judges ruled 
unanimously and conclusively that open-air 
recreation includes backpack camping on the commons.

She added: Following this judgment, Dartmoor 
remains one of only a handful of places in 
England where there is a right to backpack 
camping without the landowners permission.

We should like to see that right extended and we 
shall campaign with other organisations to achieve this.
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