Wealthy landowners lose Supreme Court case to limit wild tenting on Dartmoor | EUROtoday

A rich landowning couple have misplaced a Supreme Court case to limit wild tenting on Dartmoor – within the newest twist within the dispute over public entry to the moor.

The bitter dispute started when Alexander and Diana Darwall’s legal professionals argued that some campers have been inflicting issues to livestock and the setting.

The couple, who maintain cattle on a 3,450-acre property within the southern a part of Dartmoor, sought and gained a High Court case that restricted folks’s proper to camp on the nationwide park in Devon with out landowner consent.

But that ruling was overturned on the Court of Appeal just a few months later – and on Wednesday, the pair misplaced their problem in opposition to it on the Supreme Court.

The high-profile case is seen as a check case for countryside entry, with campaigners hopeful it should now imply larger entry rights for walkers and campers throughout the nation.

South Devon Lib Dem MP Caroline Voaden instructed The Independent: “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.

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“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 ruling largely targeted on the wording within the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985, that claims “the public shall have the right of access to the commons on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open-air recreation”.

In written submissions, Timothy Morshead KC, for Mr and Mrs Darwall, had mentioned the act solely offers the general public entry on foot and horseback “which naturally means walking and riding”.

However, barristers for the Dartmoor National Park Authority, which opposed the transfer, mentioned that the phrase “on foot” means entry ought to be pedestrian and never via a car.

The DNPA additionally disputed the considerations of harm attributable to tenting, describing the reported impression to land and vegetation as “absurd”.

The authorized battle began in January 2023, when the Darwalls gained their High Court case that dominated the regulation didn’t give folks the correct to pitch tents in a single day with out landowners’ permission.

However, simply months later the Court of Appeal overturned this choice, discovering the regulation gave folks “the right to rest or sleep on the Dartmoor Commons, whether by day or night and whether in a tent or otherwise” so long as byelaws are adopted.

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