The Supreme Court will hear an appeal in the high-profile dispute over whether wild camping falls into the category of ‘open-air recreation’ as allowed by the Dartmoor Commons Act.

In August 2023, the Court of Appeal ruled that the public had the right to camp in the national park without a landowner’s permission. Sir Geoffrey Vos, master of the rolls, found that ‘open-air recreation’ – the words used in section 10(1) of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985, included a right to camp. In his judgment he compared a walker resting to one who falls asleep, thereby 'undertaking an essential part of the recreation of a lengthy walk'. He went on to conclude that the fact of sleeping in a closed tent 'cannot convert the wild camping from being an open-air recreation into not being one.'

The Supreme Court will be asked to consider a number of principles applicable to statutory interpretation and if the Court of Appeal took sufficient account of ‘admissible background materials’ including identifying the ‘mischief’ at which the legislation was aimed and considering whether the statutory language was ambiguous.

Landmark Chambers, whose Timothy Morshead KC and Tom Morris act for the landowners Alexander Darwall and Diana Darwall, said: ‘The appeal raises an interesting question about the scope of the conditions set out in Pepper v Hart for admitting parliamentary statements as aids to the interpretation of a statute. The appeal to the Supreme Court will determine once and for all this important issue, namely whether members of the public enjoy a right to camp on the Dartmoor commons.’

Supreme Court judges will also be invited to consider whether the Court of Appeal properly applied the principles applicable to the interpretation of statutes which abridge property rights.

Campaign group The Stars are for Everyone posted on the news: ‘The loss of our rights on Dartmoor ignited a passionate movement for greater land rights in England. This latest decision is confirmation that reform is both needed and inevitable, and a clarion call to all those who wish for future generations to enjoy these freedoms.

‘Long may the right to sleep under the stars remain on Dartmoor - we will fight to ensure that it does, and then to extend that right elsewhere.’

 

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