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<h1><b>Court of Appeal gives green light for wild camping on
Dartmoor</b></h1><font size=5><b>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-court-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/" eudora="autourl">
https://tlio.org.uk/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-court-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/<br>
</a></b></font>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-court-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/">
3 August 2023</a> <a href="https://tlio.org.uk/author/tony/">Tony
Gosling</a>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-lifted-as-campaigners-win-court-battle-against-wealthy-landowners/#respond">
Leave a comment</a><br><br>
<h2><b>31Jul23 – Court of Appeal gives green light for wild camping on
Dartmoor</b></h2>
<a href="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</a>
<br><br>
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<br><br>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20230803222301.02024530@cultureshop.org.uk.0" width=755 height=422 alt="Emacs!">
<br>
<font size=6><i>Wild camping is legal again on much of Dartmoor - 31Jul23
BBC Spotlight report
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrzYDia6IgA" eudora="autourl">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrzYDia6IgA<br><br>
</a></i></font>Members of the public have the right to wild camp in
Dartmoor National Park, the Court of Appeal has ruled.<br><br>
In January, a High Court judge ruled
<a href="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 </a>on Dartmoor Commons without landowners
permission.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<a href="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</a>, arguing he had the wrong interpretation of a 1985
law over rights of access to Dartmoor Commons.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<br>
<h1><b>Dartmoor wild camping to resume after appeal
win</b></h1>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20230803222301.02024530@cultureshop.org.uk.1" width=823 height=459 alt="Emacs!">
</b></h1><br>
<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66341778">
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66341778</a><br><br>
The hearing, which took place two weeks ago included some bizarre
exchanges between the lawyers and judges.<br><br>
Timothy Morshead KC acting for the Darwalls, had argued that sleep cannot
be considered to be “recreation” as you are not conscious.<br><br>
<b>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.<br><br>
</b>Morshead said that the Darwalls took objection to the erection of
tent ‘structures’.<br><br>
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?<br><br>
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”.<br><br>
The victory was met with delight by environmental charities and
campaigners on Monday after the verdict broke.<br><br>
Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, said it was a huge win for
“re-establishing our connection with nature and the land we call
home”.<br><br>
Guy Shrubsole, co-founder of campaign group Right to Roam, said this was
not the end of the fight for land rights.<br><br>
He called for a new Right to Roam Act for England so that wild camping
can be extended beyond Dartmoor.<br><br>
<br>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20230803222301.02024530@cultureshop.org.uk.2" width=561 height=319 alt="Emacs!">
<br>
<h5><b>
<a href="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<br><br>
<br><br>
</a></b></h5><h2><b>Dartmoor wild camping ban lifted as campaigners win
court battle against wealthy
landowners</b></h2>
<a href="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</a>
<br><br>
Campaigners have won an appeal for the right to camp on
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/dartmoor">Dartmoor</a>
National Park in
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/devon">Devon</a> in the
latest twist in an ongoing row between nature enthusiasts and a wealthy
couple who own part of the land.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20230803222301.02024530@cultureshop.org.uk.3" width=768 height=576 alt="Emacs!">
<br><br>
Mr and Mrs Darwall
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/dartmoor-kevin-bishop-caroline-lucas-alexander-high-court-b2261626.html">
won their High Court challenge</a> against the Dartmoor National Park
Authority (DNPA) in January, banning people from pitching up on their
estate without consent sparking one of the
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dartmoor-wild-camping-ban-alexander-darwall-b2271183.html">
largest-ever protests</a> over public access to Englands
countryside.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
But the park authority urged appeal judges to overturn his decision,
arguing he had the wrong interpretation of the nearly 40-year-old
legislation.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Welcoming the verdict, park authoritys chair Pamela Woods, said: We are
delighted with the Court of Appeals conclusions in this landmark
case.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
We should like to see that right extended and we shall campaign with
other organisations to achieve this.<br>
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