Reminds me a bit of people who move next to an airport and then start to complain about the airplane noise. Let’s hope park authority wins and current rules are defined beyond any doubt.
its literally the only 1 of 2 places in the whole of England where wild camping is legal.
>Alexander Darwall, a City fund manager, and his wife, Diana, own 2,784 acres in south Dartmoor. They have filed a case questioning the legal basis of the authority’s bylaws, which allow for responsible backpack camping, where campers leave no trace in permitted areas of the national park.
>Papers lodged by the Darwalls’ lawyers in the high court claim there is no legal right to camp on Dartmoor, as the Dartmoor Commons Act, which gives the park authority the power to make bylaws, does not allow for camping without a landowner’s consent.
>According to the documents, the couple argue: “There is an additional requirement that the camping regulated by the defendant [the park authority] must only take place in areas where the landowners consent and subject to whatever additional conditions and requirements the landowners may stipulate in return for their consent.”
The last bit is the main point here. Basically there are no concerns about people having fires or leaving litter, they just want people to pay for it: “subject to whatever additional conditions and requirements the landowners may stipulate in return for their consent.”
I’m a bit split on this.
On one hand I have camped regularly on the moor since the late 1970’s and it’s one of the few places left in England where you can legally rough camp. The advantages and quite honestly the joy this privilege brings is amazing.
On the other hand, over the last 5 years or so I have seen this privilege abused with fires lit in beauty spots, obscene amounts of discarded litter and turds hidden under every rock. This got especially bad over the last couple of years in between the bouts of lockdowns.
I think there has to be some sort of legislation applied to reduce access. A compromise would be to ban camping / overnight stays within a mile or two of any road and from areas like Wistman’s Wood. I seem to remember when the eclipse was due a couple of decades ago they enforced a “no overnight parking” policy with draconian measures quite successfully so maybe we do need to protect the moor in a similar manor again.
I would hate to lose full access to the moor but as I said, its a privilege that’s being abused.
However, in the case of the Darwall’s, this really is just a case of some rich cunts shouting about getting off their land. If they didn’t like the fact there was an agreement in place before they bought the place, Diana and Alexander really should have stayed in London rather than playing at lords of the manor in Devon.
Being honest in principle I don’t see a huge issue with say a £10 fee for wild camping. That money then goes to the landowner with the understanding it’s spent on maintaining the land (cleaning up after the dickheads).
It’s rich sods trying to stop people roaming on their land again
>A Cambridge graduate and former Goldman Sachs analyst, Alexander Darwall is the chief investment officer of Devon Equity Management. After purchasing Blachford Estate on Dartmoor in 2011, the couple soon came into conflict with ramblers by terminating a permissive agreement allowing people to park near the New Waste area of the moor.
I grew up in this area and frequently camped out without trashing the moor. My nephew and niece did Ten Tors every year. There’s so much land owned and fenced off in this country, so few places everyone can freely camp – we should be extending these rights not letting people try to curtail them. Good on the National Park authority for sticking up for us.
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Land management in England is a sad, sad joke.
Reminds me a bit of people who move next to an airport and then start to complain about the airplane noise. Let’s hope park authority wins and current rules are defined beyond any doubt.
its literally the only 1 of 2 places in the whole of England where wild camping is legal.
>Alexander Darwall, a City fund manager, and his wife, Diana, own 2,784 acres in south Dartmoor. They have filed a case questioning the legal basis of the authority’s bylaws, which allow for responsible backpack camping, where campers leave no trace in permitted areas of the national park.
>Papers lodged by the Darwalls’ lawyers in the high court claim there is no legal right to camp on Dartmoor, as the Dartmoor Commons Act, which gives the park authority the power to make bylaws, does not allow for camping without a landowner’s consent.
>According to the documents, the couple argue: “There is an additional requirement that the camping regulated by the defendant [the park authority] must only take place in areas where the landowners consent and subject to whatever additional conditions and requirements the landowners may stipulate in return for their consent.”
The last bit is the main point here. Basically there are no concerns about people having fires or leaving litter, they just want people to pay for it: “subject to whatever additional conditions and requirements the landowners may stipulate in return for their consent.”
I’m a bit split on this.
On one hand I have camped regularly on the moor since the late 1970’s and it’s one of the few places left in England where you can legally rough camp. The advantages and quite honestly the joy this privilege brings is amazing.
On the other hand, over the last 5 years or so I have seen this privilege abused with fires lit in beauty spots, obscene amounts of discarded litter and turds hidden under every rock. This got especially bad over the last couple of years in between the bouts of lockdowns.
I think there has to be some sort of legislation applied to reduce access. A compromise would be to ban camping / overnight stays within a mile or two of any road and from areas like Wistman’s Wood. I seem to remember when the eclipse was due a couple of decades ago they enforced a “no overnight parking” policy with draconian measures quite successfully so maybe we do need to protect the moor in a similar manor again.
I would hate to lose full access to the moor but as I said, its a privilege that’s being abused.
However, in the case of the Darwall’s, this really is just a case of some rich cunts shouting about getting off their land. If they didn’t like the fact there was an agreement in place before they bought the place, Diana and Alexander really should have stayed in London rather than playing at lords of the manor in Devon.
Being honest in principle I don’t see a huge issue with say a £10 fee for wild camping. That money then goes to the landowner with the understanding it’s spent on maintaining the land (cleaning up after the dickheads).
It’s rich sods trying to stop people roaming on their land again
>A Cambridge graduate and former Goldman Sachs analyst, Alexander Darwall is the chief investment officer of Devon Equity Management. After purchasing Blachford Estate on Dartmoor in 2011, the couple soon came into conflict with ramblers by terminating a permissive agreement allowing people to park near the New Waste area of the moor.
I grew up in this area and frequently camped out without trashing the moor. My nephew and niece did Ten Tors every year. There’s so much land owned and fenced off in this country, so few places everyone can freely camp – we should be extending these rights not letting people try to curtail them. Good on the National Park authority for sticking up for us.