I was pleased to see that Wild Justice has won a judicial review of the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council’s failure to manage the Dartmoor heaths properly – click here. This case started back in 2024 and I remember writing the witness statements which set out how Wild Justice saw the issues of overgrazing and lack of action by DCC.
It has taken a very long time for this case to come to judgment – a ridiculously long time – and it feels like every part of the legal system is creaking. If judges are the problem then maybe we need a few more judges to clear the backlog of cases.
I’m surprised that Wild Justice won on only one ground too – but then I wasn’t in court and the Wild Justice blog isn’t very forthcoming on what the judge actually said.
But such an outcome highlights the issue, makes DCC do at least some of what it should have been doing for decades and may remind others of their powers and obligations too. Natural England should be taking a much stronger line with graziers on Dartmoor. Too much of Dartmoor is knackered ecologically (see map using government data, above) and Natural England should be fixing this. I’d be dropping Tony Juniper and Marian Spain a line if I were Wild Justice asking them what action they plan to take.
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