Planning

Campaign against Bulldozed Hill Tracks

Latest news: March 2011 - following last June's Parliamentary Debate on Hilltracks in the Scottish Uplands, a government consultation has been launched into a review of General Permitted Development Rights. You can read and respond to the consultation at this link

In 2005 we called for a review of Permitted Development Rights in the countryside in order to deal with unsightly and damaging new hill tracks.Tracks can be visually very intrusive, and can open up vehicular access to the more remote areas of wild land.We asked that all hill tracks be covered by planning legislation.

Currently, landowners do not need to apply for planning permission for certain permitted developments if they are for agricultural or forestry purposes.This has meant that many ugly scars have appeared on our wild landscapes as hill tracks have been bulldozed, for example to facilitate easy access to the slopes for stalkers.Inappropriate fencing, often electrified, can also cause significant intrusion in areas outwith the urban envelope and these too should come under planning law.This includes deer fences and any other fences greater than the normal height of stock fencing.

The Scottish Government did indeed carry out a review of Permitted Development Rights, published in 2007, but nothing has happened since and the situation has not improved.

Peter Peacock MSP launched an e-petition, supported by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, to highlight this problem. This led to the Parliamentary debate in June 2010, and finally to the launch of the consultation in March 2011. Read more on this issue at the link to the campaign website below.

Hilltracks Campaign website