Judges rule in favour of wild camping on moor

NATIONAL PARK OVERTURNS PREVIOUS RULING ON APPEAL

- JESS GLASS

MEMBERS of the public have the right to wild camp in Dartmoor National Park, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

In January, a High Court judge ruled a nearly 40-year-old piece of legislation did not give people the right to pitch tents overnight on Dartmoor Commons without landowners’ permission.

Alexander and Diana Darwall brought the successful legal challenge against the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), claiming some campers cause problems to livestock and the environment.

Earlier this month, the DNPA asked appeal judges to overturn Sir Julian Flaux’s decision, arguing he had the wrong interpretation of a 1985 law over rights of access to Dartmoor Commons.

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.