![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/nohilltrackshere1.jpg\" "\\"nohilltrackshere\\"")
The campaign to require planning permission for new bulldozed hill tracks has entered its final phase. The Scottish Government has issued a consultation document and walkers and climbers have until 22 June to submit comments. The document proposes, “that to remove permitted development rights for private roads and ways is the only practical solution to a problem which has become increasingly controversial under self-regulation by land owners, and which shows no signs of abating”.<\/p>\n
If this becomes law it will mean that hill tracks will no longer fall under the category of ‘permitted development’ which includes many agricultural buildings as well as garden sheds and small conservatories, and planning permission will be required instead. This does not mean that new hill tracks would not be allowed, just that they would need planning permission and conditions, such as environmental mitigation measures, can be attached to the permission if necessary. If permission is refused, the applicant would have a right of appeal.<\/p>\n
That the process has got to this final stage is largely down to campaigning by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS), whose members have been alarmed by the increase in the number and spread of unregulated bulldozed tracks in upland areas. The MCofS says that if passed, the proposal will help to ensure that new private roads and ways are permitted only where it can be clearly demonstrated by the applicant that they are:<\/p>\n
– Absolutely necessary and that no suitable alternative solution exists.
\n– Well-designed to minimise any potential long term\/permanent adverse visual impact on mountain landscapes, including local Special Landscape Areas and areas of \u2018wild land\u2019 which lack any specific national or local landscape designation to protect them from inappropriate development.
\n– Maintained within the track boundary and not widened without specific permission.<\/p>\n
MCofS Chief Officer, David Gibson said, “In making our response to the Consultation, we would like to recognise the efforts of the many individuals and organisations who have made the proposed amendment possible through their support for the original campaign. I would urge all those interested in protecting Scotland’s mountains and wild land from the proliferation of hill tracks to respond to the Consultation and support the proposed amendments to Classes 18, 22 and 27.”<\/p>\n
Walkers and climbers have until Friday 22 June to comment. The consultation paper can be downloaded here<\/a>, it contains details of the proposal and how to respond. Anyone with an interest in the Scottish countryside can respond. The response form can be found on pages 32-35 of the document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The campaign to require planning permission for new bulldozed hill tracks has entered its final phase. The Scottish Government has issued a consultation document and walkers and climbers have until 22 June to submit comments. The document proposes, “that to remove permitted development rights for private roads and ways is the only practical solution to a problem which has become increasingly controversial under self-regulation by land owners, and which shows no signs of abating”. If this becomes law it will mean that hill tracks will no longer fall under the category of ‘permitted development’ which includes many agricultural buildings as…<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservation","category-walking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6874"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23876,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions\/23876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Read more ›<\/div>\n