Richard presents bill to Parliament on protecting wild camping at Dartmoor
Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton & Honiton Richard Foord has today presented a bill in Parliament to protect wild camping at Dartmoor and people’s access to National Parks.
The bill, titled the National Parks (Camping) Bill, comes in response to the recent legal ruling which allows landowners to deny people the right to wild camp at Dartmoor National Park - a right they’ve enjoyed since 1985.
Recently it was announced that the Park authority was in the process of finalising a deal with landowners on the Park to enable people to wild camp on parts of the park in exchange for financial compensation.
However, this deal will still see huge areas of the park closed off for wild camping and will see further pressure added to the Park’s already overstretched budget.
In November last year, before the ruling, and subsequent agreement, the Park said it was having to find almost £900,000 of savings by 2026 just to stay afloat.
Mr Foord’s bill aims to protect people’s right to camp respectfully at Dartmoor National Park and protect people’s right to access National Parks across the country.
Speaking after presenting his bill, Richard Foord MP said:
“The recent ruling on Dartmoor has seen rights we’ve enjoyed for decades put at risk.
“Thousands of people every year travel to Dartmoor to responsibly enjoy our beautiful part of the world.
“It should not be the case that a very small minority of wealthy landowners get to remove access to National Parks, or to make it conditional on being paid.
“At a time when the Dartmoor National Park Authority is already experiencing financial pressure, taxpayers' money should be spent supporting Dartmoor and protecting our countryside - not paying wealthy landowners for access.
“My Bill will maintain people's legal right to wild camp responsibly on Dartmoor and access National Park land.
“I urge the Government to allow it to be debated, so that MPs can discuss the impact of the ruling and take action to rectify the situation.
“I will also continue to push for action to tackle the irresponsible use of disposable barbeques, which continue to blight our National Parks.”
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