Last chance for Dartmoor backpack-camping rights 

The final hearing on the Dartmoor backpack camping case is tomorrow (8 October) in the supreme court.  The case, between landowners Alexander and Diana Darwall and the Dartmoor National Park Authority, has previously been heard in the high court and the court of appeal.  Now it goes to the supreme court for final determination. 

We wish the Dartmoor National Park Authority every success in the supreme court, which will hear the case on 8 October. Photo: Open Spaces Society

The Open Spaces Society has been permitted to make a written intervention in the supreme court and has done so.  The society intervened in support of the Dartmoor National Park Authority in the Court of Appeal and was relieved when the court ruled that the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 gave the public the right to camp on nearly all the Dartmoor commons.  However, the landowners, Alexander and Diana Darwall then applied, and were given permission, to appeal to the supreme court. 

The Darwalls, who own Stall Moor common on south-west Dartmoor, argued that the right granted to the public on foot and horseback on the Dartmoor commons, for the purpose of open-air recreation (section 10 of the 1985 Act), did not include the right to camp. In the Court of Appeal it was held that the wording of section 10 ‘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’. 

Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘This is the last chance for the right to backpack camp on Dartmoor to be confirmed.  We have always believed there was a right and have argued this in our intervention.  The outcome of this important case could have a far-reaching effect on outdoor activities, and it will influence the attitude of other landowners. 

‘We wish the Dartmoor National Park Authority every success in the supreme court.’