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

Judges rule unanimously to overturn decision removing rare right to wild camp without landowner’s permission

A controversial ban on camping in Dartmoor has been lifted (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Campaigners have won an appeal for the right to camp on Dartmoor National Park in 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.

Mr and Mrs Darwall 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 largest-ever protests over public access to England’s countryside.

Alexander Darwall, a wealthy banker, and his wife Diana own a 3,450-acre estate in Dartmoor (Edison)

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.”

Dartmoor National Park is one of the few places in England where people can camp without a landowner’s permission (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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 authority’s chair Pamela Woods, said: “We are delighted with the Court of Appeal’s 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.

Around 2,000 to 3,000 locals and campaigners were reported to have taken part in the protest after January’s ruling (SWNS)

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.”

There was singing and dancing at Croken Tor – the traditional centre of Dartmoor, where tin miners would meet to adjudicate disputes in years gone by – during the protest on 21 January (SWNS)

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 landowner’s permission.

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

Additional reporting by PA