Potential threat to wild camping on Dartmoor

[thomasdevon]

Members who hike Dartmoor might be concerned that the Dartmoor National Park Authority is taking a look at restricting wild camping on the moor.


This follows some well-publicised incidents last year when some areas were plagued by irresponsible campers attempting to escape covid lock-down restrictions. These led to anti-social behaviour, littering and some environmental damage.


The Park Authority will be putting draft new byelaws out for public consultation starting on the 20th and running for appr. 6 weeks.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9985899/Dartmoor-ban-camping-National-Park-plans-stop-wild-camping-anti-social-behaviour.html


I suggest that all of us who relish wild camping on Dartmoor get hold of the draft and consultation details and go over it with a fine tooth-comb, and don't hold back with comments to the DNPA.


Possibly members who are also members of ramblers' and hikers' associations might like to bring this to the attention of those organisations too.


Dartmoor is the one tract of country in England where we can wild camp legally. This lawful right needs to be protected by us and respected by the authorities.

[thomasdevon]

The Dartmoor National Park Authority have been super-efficient and have emailed me this am, with links to their public consultation on wild camping on the moor. This only opened this morning. It closes on 1st November.


The relevant reports can be found on the Authority's website at -
www.dartmoor.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/400800/2021-09-03-Authority-Reports.pdf
(need to scroll down to p53)


The public consultation is detailed at -
www.dartmoor.gov.uk/about-us/who-we-are/byelaws-consultation


I'll be having a look over the next few days and I would urge everyone who camps to do so and even if you have nothing critical to say, please make a response. We are a scattered community, but a raft of responses will show our level of interest, the depth of feeling and the breadth of the hiking / wild camping community.


Please respond to the Authority by the due date.

[Patrick1]

From a quick glance at the maps I wouldn't necessarily be rushing to oppose this. They seem to be suggesting removing the right to camp largely on some corridors of moorland either side of several roads. I think this would do a lot to remove the bad publicity from "dirty camping", which is often (though I accept not always) car based, without impacting on the freedom to "wild camp" in more out of the way spots.


I'm based in Scotland, but I've thought for a while that the "right to roam" here should probably have excluded camping within, say, 150m of a road - as is the case, I believe, in some Scandinavian countries. Again, a lot of the recent negative publicity, which risks impacting on everyone wild camping, might have been avoided if this was the case.

[Casual Ambler]

I'm all for the proposals  after seeing the state of several areas that were completely trashed and abused.


They will still have the same problem enforcing the bylaws, unfortunately they just don't have the required staff available. If only they or the police could issue on the spot fines, the message would soon get out and less people would take the risk of getting caught.