“The mountains of Snowdonia, the Lakes… and the tors of the West Country belong to the people as a right and not as a concession. This is not just a Bill. It is a people’s charter – a people’s charter for the open air.” Those were the words of the Labour minister Lewis Silkin in 1949 after introducing legislation to create the first national parks in Britain, which celebrate their 75th anniversary this year.
As a Devon resident I’m a direct beneficiary of this “people’s charter” every time I hike over Dartmoor. But a walk across Dartmoor also reveals how these supposedly protected landscapes have declined. The last lapwing nested on Dartmoor in 2022, ring ouzels have stopped breeding there, and I count myself lucky to have heard one of the moor’s last curlews calling over the mires.
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