Wild camping will be allowed on Dartmoor after the supreme court ruled that a multimillionaire landowner was wrong to ban it on his land.
Dartmoor was – until the legal action – the only place in England where wild camping without the permission of the landowner was enshrined in law. In Scotland, people have enjoyed this right since 2003.
For two years, Alexander Darwall, a multimillionaire hedge fund manager, has been pursuing the matter through the courts against the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), as he does not want people camping on his land without his permission.
Darwall, Dartmoor’s sixth largest landowner, 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.
He has argued that under the law he has been unable to remove wild campers from his land and said this had affected his conservation efforts and potentially put his cattle at risk.
The DNPA wants to keep the right for wild camping on Dartmoor and has said it is “absurd” to suggest wild camping causes environmental issues.
In a case that has been keenly followed by land rights campaigners – and campers – across the country, Darwall won in the high court in 2023, but then the appeal court ruled that the law did state there was a right to wild camp on Dartmoor. He then brought his case to the supreme court.
The case has hinged on the meaning of “open-air recreation” under the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985. Darwall’s lawyers have sought a very narrow interpretation of this, arguing that walking and horseback riding are the only activities permitted. In what some termed a bizarre turn of events, lawyers for Darwall told the supreme court last year that picnicking did not count as open-air recreation and was therefore trespass.
Experts including the Open Spaces Society warned the court that agreeing with Darwall’s interpretation of the law would have wide implications for how people enjoyed Dartmoor, potentially prohibiting activities including bathing, sketching, rock climbing, bird watching and fishing.
Since the case was brought, thousands of protesters have flocked to Dartmoor to camp and argue for their continued right to do so.
After the verdict, campaigners have urged the Labour party to revive plans to legalise the right to roam across England. This was promised in opposition but ditched by the party as it wrote its manifesto last year, after pressure from countryside groups.
Guy Shrubsole, from the Right to Roam campaign, said: “The verdict is a relief – but 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.
“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.”
MPs are calling for Labour to allow wild camping across the country. Caroline Voaden, the MP for South Devon, whose constituency includes Dartmoor, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled with this ruling. It is a vindication of something we’ve all known for a long time: that the stars are for everyone, and that access to nature is not a nice to have, but a fundamental necessity for a happy, healthy life. Wild camping is good for body and soul – I’m very pleased the judges could see this.
“It’s a shame this had to be tested yet again in the courtroom. Now this is over, I hope we can begin work to extend our right to wild camp beyond Dartmoor. In opposition, Labour spoke about extending the right to wild camp across the UK. I hope they will put those words into action and expand access rights for walkers and campers across the country.”
The supreme court ruled that camping was a form of open-air recreation, and the Dartmoor Commons Act gave the public a right to have access to the Dartmoor Commons for the purpose of camping there, provided that it was exercised by going on to the Commons on foot or on horseback.
Contrary to Darwall’s lawyers’ arguments, the court found the law did not require the person exercising the right to be on foot or on horseback at all times while they were on the commons – those are just the means that a person had to use to have access to the commons, and having gained access by those means, one could stop to pursue any kind of “open-air recreation” that fell fairly within the meaning of that phrase, which would include having a picnic, camping and other activities such as rock climbing.
Kevin Bishop, the CEO of Dartmoor National Park, told the Guardian: “I am over the moon, if I am honest. We are delighted and relieved. It’s a really good day for Dartmoor, for people who access the national park and for future generations as well as this enshrines their right to enjoy the park. We have defended the right to access but will ensure people access responsibly and treat the commons, and the landowners, with respect.
“The judgment goes back to the people who fought for our national parks in the first place and what they intended for our parks – they are for the many not for the few.”
