Wild Camping in UK

[Bmblbzzz]

Very glad to hear this.

[maximus meridius]

This is very good news. Though somebody at the BBC needs to go back to maths classes, and decide what area of land the Darwalls own.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66341778

[Mike Sales]

And perhaps the water has been muddied by the increased number of irresponsible campers who have been in the news over the past couple of years, leaving their rubbish and potentially starting wildfires. If only wild campers were all the clean-up-after-yourself variety, who bother nobody.

Wild camping on Dartmoor not a significant fire risk, research shows

Exclusive: Data on number and nature of wildfires at odds with claims of landowner seeking to ban wild camping

he Natural England area manager, Wesley Smyth, is charged with monitoring Dartmoor’s environmental state and provided a witness statement to the court during the case. He said: “Natural England has no evidence that wild camping has had a direct or cumulative adverse impact on the SSSI or SAC conditions which are more largely influenced by wider land management practices.”

Smyth said excessive moorland burning by land managers was causing fires on the moors. He added: “On occasion, where burning management undertaken by landowners and commoners has got out of control, this can sometimes be reported as wildfires.”T

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... arch-shows

[Sweep]

That article sounds plausible.

I am planning to freecamp in the Bowland area soonish.

Maybe the landowners there profess a similar concern to Mr Dartmoor for flora and fauna.

This would be the same shooting estate bods who also burn the land and have been linked to the deliberate killing of protected Hen Harriers which they don't like as they see them as a threat to the cannon fodder they breed for the big-spending hunting fraternity.

I will of course leave no trace.

[Bmblbzzz]

I will of course leave no trace.

And good on you for that. If you have a bin bag and maybe a pair of gloves, you can even leave a positive trace by removing some of the litter left by others. There may be other ways of leaving a positive trace too.

[Jdsk]

Supreme Court judgment on Dartmoor:
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc- ... nt-details

Judgment
The Supreme Court unanimously dismisses the appeal. The clear wording of section 10(1)
shows that it confers a right of public access which includes wild camping. This is supported
by a wide range of interpretive aids, including other provisions in the 1985 Act and the
legislative background. Lord Sales and Lord Stephens give the judgment, with which the other
members of the Court agree.

Guardian coverage:
"Wild camping on Dartmoor is legal, supreme court rules":
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ourt-rules

Jonathan

[Traction_man]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/roug ... -200-years

Press release
Rough sleeping to be decriminalised after 200 years 
The Government has confirmed it will repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824 by Spring next year, to ensure rough sleeping is no longer a criminal offence.

[Bmblbzzz]

Putting on my 101% sceptical goggles, decriminalising rough sleeping is cheaper and less disturbing to vested interests than ensuring everyone has a home.

[Nearholmer]

At a legal/technical level, I don’t think decriminalising rough sleeping alters anything about fly-camping in England, because I think that’s a trespass if its anything, so not a criminal offence except where byelaws specifically forbid it, which might be the case in some national Parks, where it might then become a petty crime. I don’t think it’s criminally illegal on CROW Act Land, simply not permitted by the Act, so a trespass unless the landowner has granted permission.

[Traction_man]

The 1824 Vagrancy Act is often trotted out as the basis for wild camping being out-lawed in E&W, though Stephen Neale's book on Wild Camping mentions the 1935 Vagrancy Act which specifically removed a section of the original act, "The reference in the said enactment [of 1824] to a person lodging under a tent or in a cart or waggon shall not be deemed to include a person lodging under a tent or in a cart or waggon [aka caravan?] with or in which he [sic] travels', so Neale's take on this for 'wild camping' is as long as we're travelling we're fine!