Latest News

Right to backpack camp on Dartmoor’s commons confirmed by appeal court

July 31, 2023

We are delighted that three judges in the court of appeal have unanimously overturned the high court ruling and resolved that there is a right to backpack (wild) camp on Dartmoor’s common land. The full judgment can be read here. The society intervened in the court of appeal to support the Dartmoor National Park Authority…

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Brat Tor and Great Links, Dartmoor Photo: Open Spaces Society

An update on the Dartmoor backpack-camping appeal

July 24, 2023

The court of appeal hearing of Dartmoor National Park Authority and Open Spaces Society v Darwall was on 18 July, and can be watched here. Our aim was to overturn the ruling of Sir Julian Flaux in the high court in January that the term ‘open-air recreation’ in section 10 of the Dartmoor Commons Act…

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Brat Tor and Great Links, Dartmoor Photo: Open Spaces Society

Dartmoor backpack camping: we join case in court of appeal

May 23, 2023

Update July 2023: the appeal was heard on July 18 2023. A summary and link to watch can be found here. Update June 2023: the society has submitted to the court a witness statement, made by case officer Hugh Craddock, and the society’s skeleton argument, courtesy of Richard Honey KC, Ned Westaway and Esther Drabkin-Reiter,…

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