The case has wide-ranging implications for backpack camping. Photo: Dartmoor NPA

The Open Spaces Society will support Dartmoor national park bosses in the next stage of the battle over the right of backpackers to camp in the area.

The society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, has been granted permission to intervene in the case when it is heard at the Supreme Court.

The OSS previously supported Dartmoor National Park Authority in its successful case at the Court of Appeal against landowners Alexander and Diana Darwall. The court ruled that the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 did grant the public the right to camp on almost all of the national park’s commons.

But the Darwalls, who own Stall Moor common on south-west Dartmoor, were granted leave to take the case to the Supreme Court. The OSS said it was relieved when the Appeal Court ruled that the wording of section 10 of the act ‘confers on members of the public the right to rest or sleep on the Dartmoor commons whether by day or night and whether in a tent or otherwise’.

The matter will be heard at a sitting on 8 October.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, said: “We are pleased that we can again give practical support to the Dartmoor National Park Authority in this vital fight. The outcome could have far-reaching implications as it will influence the attitude of other landowners.”