Landowners' legal case could end wild camping in England!

 

Wild Camping

Many people have taken up wild camping as a hobby and activity, and probably think they have the right to pitch their tent on open land, whenever they choose to do so. As the Lollard, and peasant revolt leader, John Ball, famously said: "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" But wild camping has become an issue, a cause celebre, since a wealthy landowner, Alexander Darwall, who owns 'Stall Moor', 2,784 acres of south Dartmoor, brought a legal case against the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) who have vowed to defend wild camping.

Darwall, a city fund manager, who uses the Blachford Estate for deer stalking, claims there is no legal right to camp on Dartmoor, which covers an area of 368 square miles, and is roughly the same size as London. Darwall's lawyers in the High Court, argued that camping in Dartmoor must only take place with the landowners consent and is subject to whatever additional conditions and requirements the landowners may stipulate in return for their consent. The DNPA, say that bylaws allow for responsible backpack camping, where campers leave no trace in permitted areas of the national park.

Although Dartmoor is one of the most famous national parks in the UK, some 47% of Dartmoor has 14 owners divided into a collection of families, businesses, royals and farmers, who own a total of 110,619 acres of Dartmoor out of its total of 235,986 acres. By far, the biggest landowner on Dartmoor, is the Duchy of Cornwall.

In the UK, wild camping is illegal in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, unless you get the owners consent and therefore, it constitutes trespass. Wild camping is not illegal in Scotland and technically you can pitch your tent wherever you like including the country's National Parks. People in Scotland benefit from open right-to-roam rules contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.

As with the mass trespass of Hayfield Kinder Scout in 1932, by Young Communists like Benny Rothman, which paved the way for National Park legislation in 1949, and long distance footpaths like the Pennine Way, we are likely to see similar acts of mass trespass and civil disobedience, if there is a crackdown on wild camping in places like Dartmoor and elsewhere.