Court of Appeal - The Public Has the Right to Wild Camp on Dartmoor

There are also wider implications for all charities in the way a Court proceedings can increase attention for a cause and provide a route for a charity to achieve its campaigning objectives.  

 In the case of Alexander Darwall & Anor v Dartmoor National Park Authority [2023] EWCA Civ 927, the Court of Appeal's judgment, of 31 July 2023, upheld the decades-old right in law, which had been allowed by Devon County Council throughout, for the public to wild camp in Dartmoor National Park without requiring permission of the landowner. This judgment overturned the decision of the High Court in January 2023, which ruled that wild camping was not allowed according to the relevant legislation.

The Court's decision turned on the interpretation of the words at section 10(1) of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 which provided that ‘the public shall have a right of access to the commons on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open-air recreation’.

This involved some legal gymnastics, with an intricate and technical exercise of statutory interpretation balanced against real world examples, including a consideration of a spectrum of routes into wild camping slumber and confirming that they all constituted 'open-air recreation': a walker lying down for a rest, whether awake or asleep, whether unprotected from the elements on the ground, on a plastic sheet, in a sleeping bag, under a tarpaulin or open tent, or indeed in a closed tent.

Ultimately, the Court of Appeal found that as long as a person accessed Dartmoor Commons on foot or horseback, the open-air recreation itself did not need to be on foot or on horseback (or ancillary to those modes of travel), and the right 'does allow members of the public to rest and sleep, whether by day or by night, whether on the ground or in a tent'; the statutory right allows for wild camping.

Although the judgment relates specifically to Dartmoor, which is the only place in England where wild camping is currently permitted without the landowner's permission, and was decided by fine points of statutory interpretation, it is a significant part of a wider public discussion around the "right to roam", and will no doubt be of interest to charities with extensive estates, as well as those promoting outdoor sports and access to the countryside, with some campaigners hoping the example of Dartmoor will serve as a blueprint for others to follow.

In fact, the high profile of this case in the High Court and since is instructive to all charities, in presenting opportunities to advance causes and campaigns around particular legal proceedings. Indeed, many charities have formed, and benefitted from, the revived public interest in the 'right to roam'. The Open Spaces Society, a registered charity, has taken the next step still, in joining the legal proceedings at the Court of Appeal to bolster the team arguing that there is a right to wild camp in on Dartmoor.

There does, though, still remain the question of the whether the landowners in this case, Mr and Mrs Darwall, will seek to appeal this decision in the Supreme Court.

For enquiries or more information, please contact Shivaji Shiva in our Charities team on 07788 313 298, Gabriel Cohen on 0117 314 5661, or complete the form below.