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</font><h1><b>Landowner’s supreme court case threatens 2023 Dartmoor wild
camping
victory</b></h1><font size=5>
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<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/landowners-supreme-court-case-threatens-2023-dartmoor-wild-camping-victory/">
15 January 2024</a> <a href="https://tlio.org.uk/author/tony/">Tony
Gosling</a>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/landowners-supreme-court-case-threatens-2023-dartmoor-wild-camping-victory/#respond">
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Landowner’s supreme court case threatens Dartmoor wild camping
victory<br><br>
<b>
<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/dartmoor-rangers-to-wear-body-worn-video-cameras-after-rise-of-abuse-13044107">
See also: Dartmoor ‘robot rangers’ to wear body-worn video cameras after
‘rise of abuse’ by wild campers they are trying to evict
</a></b>
<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/dartmoor-rangers-to-wear-body-worn-video-cameras-after-rise-of-abuse-13044107">
<br><br>
</a><img src="cid:.0" width=997 height=591 alt="Emacs!"><br><br>
Alexander Darwall is challenging decision last year to overturn ban on
wild camping on the moors<br><br>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/10/landowners-supreme-court-case-threatens-dartmoor-wild-camping-victory">
Helena Horton Environment reporter – Wed 10 Jan 2024</a><br><br>
The right to wild camp on Dartmoor could be under threat again after the
supreme court granted permission for a wealthy landowner to bring a case
against it.<br><br>
Last year, the Dartmoor National Park Authority won an appeal against a
decision to ban wild camping on the moors.<br><br>
Camping had been assumed to be allowed under the Dartmoor Commons Act
since 1985, until a judge ruled otherwise last January. It was the only
place in England that such an activity was allowed without requiring
permission from a landowner.<br><br>
The case hinged on whether wild camping counted as open-air recreation,
leading to a long debate in the court of appeal. Lawyers acting for
Alexander Darwall, the landowner, argued it was not, because when camping
one was only sleeping rather than enjoying a particular
activity.<br><br>
After the court of appeal decision, lawyers acting for Darwall, a hedge
funder and Dartmoor’s sixth-largest landowner, asked the supreme court to
hear the case.<br><br>
Darwall bought the 1,619-hectare (4,000-acre) Blachford estate on
southern Dartmoor in 2013. He offers pheasant shoots, deerstalking and
holiday rentals on his land.<br><br>
His attempts to ban wild campers from using his estate without his
permission sparked a large protest movement, with thousands going to
Dartmoor to assert their right to camp. It awakened a land rights debate
in the UK, with the Labour party weighing in. The party previously said
it would legislate for a right to wild camp in all national parks.
However, it since appears to have U-turned on its land rights
policy.<br><br>
Lewis Winks, from the Stars Are For Everyone campaign, said: “The loss of
our cherished right to sleep under the stars on Dartmoor ignited a
passionate and broad movement for greater land rights in England. This
news is confirmation that reform is both needed and inevitable, and will
act as a clarion call to all those who wish for generations to come to
enjoy these fundamental freedoms.<br><br>
“As ever, the right to wild camp is emblematic of the fragility of our
wider rights in the English countryside, and Darwall’s latest egregious
move illustrates the need for greater legal protections for access to
nature.<br><br>
“We hope that the court sees sense and returns a favourable verdict,
enabling wild camping to continue on the commons of Dartmoor.”<br><br>
Darwall’s legal team at Landmark Chambers said that the high court held
that the words in the act “unambiguously excluded a right to camp on
Dartmoor” and found in favour of the landowners. The court of appeal held
that it “unambiguously included a right to camp” and allowed the Dartmoor
National Park Authority’s appeal. “The appeal to the supreme court will
determine once and for all this important issue, namely whether members
of the public enjoy a right to camp on the Dartmoor commons,” it
said.<br><br>
“The supreme court will be asked to consider a number of principles
applicable to statutory interpretation which will be of interest to
practitioners. In particular, it will be invited to consider whether the
court of appeal took sufficient account of admissible ‘background’
materials (i) in identifying the ‘mischief’ at which the legislation was
aimed and (ii) in considering whether the statutory language was
ambiguous.”<br><br>
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