The Supreme Court has upheld the legal right to wild camp on Dartmoor, unanimously dismissing an appeal against Dartmoor National Park Authority made by Dartmoor landowners Alexander and Diana Darwall.
The Darwalls had sought to overturn a Court of Appeal ruling handed down in July 2023 which restored the right to wild camp following a High Court ruling which removed that right.
Dartmoor is the only place in England where there is a right to camp in open countryside without permission from landowners. In Scotland people have been free to camp on most unenclosed land, whether publicly or privately owned, since 2003.
The Supreme Court judgement, handed down this morning, centred on whether provision in the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 for public “right of access to the commons on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open-air recreation” included wild camping.
The judges found that the “clear wording” of the act did confer this right and that “on foot and on horseback” referred only to means of access and did not “qualify the forms of open-air recreation which may be enjoyed having done so”.
Kate Ashbrook of campaign group Open Spaces Society, which supported Dartmoor National Park Authority’s case, said: “This is a tremendous outcome, confirming what we have believed all along, namely that there has always been a right for the public to camp on the nearly all the 359 square kilometres of Dartmoor commons”.
Lewis Winks of Right to Roam, a campaign for legislation in England similar to the law that created new public land access rights in Scotland, said: “The verdict is a relief and huge win for the thousands of people who have campaigned so hard to retain the right to wild camp on Dartmoor.”
The Darwalls told the BBC that they were “disappointed” by the judgement.
Wild camping on Dartmoor. Photo: Fern Leigh-Albert.
Alexander Darwall, a hedge fund manager who has donated more than £100,000 to the Conversative Party, UKIP and Vote Leave, is the sixth largest landowner on Dartmoor with his wife Diana.
The couple bought the 4,000 acre Blachford Estate in 2011. It extends from land just north of Ivybridge to the Duchy of Cornwall holding at the heart of the moor.
In January 2023 the Darwalls won a case they brought against Dartmoor National Park Authority when their lawyers successfully argued that public access provision in the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 did exclude wild camping.
Following the ruling thousands of people took part in a protest against the decision, walking from the village of Cornwood to Stall Moor, part of the Darwalls’ land.
Six months later Dartmoor National Park Authority and Open Spaces Society won an appeal against the January ruling, restoring the right to wild camp.
High Court rally, July 2023. Photo: Right to Roam.
As well as holding rallies to protest the Darwalls’ legal action, campaigners and wild campers have been arguing for an extension of rights of access to land.
Following today’s ruling Kate Ashbrook said that Open Spaces Society wanted to see the right to camp extended “so that people can enjoy a night under the stars on all open country in England and Wales”, adding: “The government is dragging its feet on the issue of improved public access”.
Right to Roam says that the land on Dartmoor with wild camping rights comprises just 0.2% of the land in England. It has also found that there are 2,500 other areas of land in England where there is a right to roam but no legal right of access, so requiring trespass to reach them.
Lewis Winks said: “Dartmoor remains the only place in England and Wales where the public has a right to wild camp and can lawfully experience the magic of sleeping under the stars.
“And the fact that one wealthy landowner, Alexander Darwall, was able to temporarily remove a right that belonged to everyone demonstrates how England’s system of access is utterly broken.”
He added: “The Labour Government must now pass a new Right to Roam Act to defend and extend the public’s rights to access nature in England.
“Ministers must urgently change the law not only to protect the right to wild camp on Dartmoor from future challenges, but to expand the public’s right of responsible access to the wider countryside.”
Dr Kevin Bishop, chief executive of Dartmoor National Park Authority said: “While in opposition, Labour were publicly supportive of our action to defend the right to backpack camp.
“Now they are in Government, we hope that they will work with us to ensure that we have the tools and resources to manage responsible access and to look at lessons that can be learnt from the Dartmoor case before they publish the forthcoming Green Paper on access to nature and the countryside.”
In 2023 Labour said it would pass a right to roam act if elected but this pledge was not included in the party’s 2024 election manifesto.
