After an outbreak of public anger and protest in January, when wealthy landowners, Alexander and Diana Darwall won their High Court challenge against the right to wild camp in Dartmoor National Park. That effectively placed a ban on wild camping and self-supported bike packing on Dartmoor. The public outcry triggered a wider debate on access laws in England in Westminster, with the then Labour shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon saying, "There are still huge parts of England and Wales that are off limits when it comes to the right to access, and that it needs to change" and added, "a Labour party elected government would look to pass a right to roam act and reverse the ban."
The current Labour Party shadow environment minister, Alex Sobel, has now announced during a fresh debate in the House of Commons, secured by the Green MP, Caroline Lucas, who has been campaigning for wider access to the countryside. Sobel pledged to introduce a new act based on the Scottish-style right to roam law in England if it wins the next general election, with access to green space becoming law.
