Right to Roam Update
Emma on the Supreme Court’s decision to hear an appeal to overturn the 2023 ruling on the ‘right to camp’.
Last year Dartmoor National Park Authority won the case regarding responsible backpack camping when the Court of Appeal stated that the 1985 The Dartmoor Commons Act ratified the “unambiguous...right to camp”. So it is devastating to read that the Supreme Court recently granted permission to hear the appeal to overturn this ruling. With just 8% of the land in England and Wales accessible to the general public (and 2% of the rivers), there is a desperate need for people to have greater access to the natural world. The 'Right to Roam’ campaign is proposing greater access to green spaces (to aid health, wellbeing, care for nature, and more) and is 'contingent on adhering to a strict set of responsibilities. These are simple, basic codes of how to behave in the countryside in such a way that you neither interrupt the function of a working, agricultural landscape, or damage the ecology of where you roam.’
Imagine if all the money that has been spent on this court case instead went towards teaching and inspiring responsible nature-access for schools, youth and community groups, forest schools, disadvantaged people, etc. The government has backtracked on a variety of initiatives but that doesn’t mean local communities can’t support one another. I have sympathy for landowners who have experienced littering, fires, raves, etc - it is unacceptable behaviour. And yet denying and reducing access further harms our relationship and care for green spaces.
If you feel moved to, please support the Dartmoor Preservation Association’s fundraising campaign - this 140 years old charity works to 'defend the natural beauty and cultural heritage of Dartmoor’ and is acting as the 'official focus for donations in its appeal against a ban on backpack camping. We wish to see a rights-based not a permission-based system on Dartmoor.’
