Wild camping in England and Wales - Petition

[Paul Webster]

Up here in Scotland, we can sometimes feel a bit smug about our access rights, enshrined in legislation (see our Access in Scotland page for details of your rights and responsibilities).

But let's spare a thought for those living in England and Wales - and we do even go walking there sometimes ourselves.

Blogger whitespider1066 has started a petition on the No.10 website for wild camping to be legalised in England and Wales along the same lines as the Scottish legislation.

Some of us might have been acting illegally in the past - I particularly remember a night camping on top of Castle Crag (Borrowdale) with a stunning view towards Keswick, and a perfectly idyllic wild camp by Bowscale Tarn followed by an early morning up Sharp Edge.

You can sign it here.

[Simon Parker]

Although I love wild camping in Scotland I'm not so sure it should be allowed in the rest of the UK. I live close to the edge of the North York Moors, and this sounds like I'm denying myself a great opportunity, but in England we don't have as much wild land as the Scots, and we have a vastly larger population. Couple that with the fact that all our wild areas are within a couple of hours driving distance from millions of people, and you can imagine what might happen!
We do have problems from time to time with tents and motorhomes destroying some fabulous views - especially in the summer, and they are moved on as often as possible by the park rangers. If it were legalised, the views would be permanently destroyed, and I'm sorry to say that some of them would leave behind their usual piles of rubbish (and worse...)
We can do it in Scotland where you have the space to blend in to the background, but for us, no.
Apologies, but I want to preserve what little is left!

[Paul Webster]

Hi Simon

Just to clarify - the law in Scotland doesn't apply to motorhomes, nor indeed any camping near or beside the road. It only applies in open country out of sight of any buildings. I think this should alleviate most of your worries.

In England it would actually be easier to implement, as areas of open country have already been defined (and shown on maps) following the recent CROW access legislation. The rules would only apply in those areas.

Of course those leaving litter should be penalised - and perhaps more harshly than at present. People dumping rubbish are and still will be outside the law - legislation makes no difference to these people, they just need to be caught and/or better educated. In Scotland the legislation enshrined walkers responsibilities as well as their rights, and that is how it should be.

But it can't be right that for the law-abiding majority, it is technically illegal to camp anywhere in the country except on a campsite. What are the lightweight, storm-proof hill-tents for, if not to camp out on the mountains of the Lakes or the wilder parts of the Dales or Moors? Remember that much of the wild areas in Scotland are within easy reach for the millions of the central belt, too.

[Simon Parker]

Hmmmmmm
I'm still not convinced Paul!
The fact is, that most wild land in England is covered by the National Parks and under the control of overstretched and underfunded rangers.
If we were to trumpet a new set of rules and say that wild camping was allowed, then people would flock to the beauty spots with their cars and camp there - making the assumption they are backed up by the law as it would be impossible to easily explain the differences between "wild" camping and roadside camping. This would make the rangers job doubly difficult.
Real wild camping - i.e. people walking on to the hills and finding a quiet little patch to camp for an evening already goes on, and importantly, no-one cares! The rangers don't have the resources, or the need, to go chasing people that do this, as they know that they are (in almost every case) the sort that won't start fires or leave rubbish behind.
Organised camping gives people that need it, all the facilities they want and gives rural and hill farming economies an important boost.
My point is that no-one really minds if a few people who like it, do it!
Let sleeping dogs lie I say.....

[Paul Webster]

This campaign, which is being run by group of Outdoor Bloggers, now has its own website: www.legalisewildcamping.com

[wandererjon]

I signed the e-petition some time ago and have now had a response from Downing Street-
http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page15826.asp

So it looks like we here in England are going to have to remain sneaky!!

[Paul Webster]

We signed the petition too.

The response isn't actually as negative as I thought it would be. It actually basically says 'we aren't doing this as we don't have enough time,' which isn't a very strong argument against. Maybe this one is winnable - but the campaign needs to get some MP's on side to get further now.