Please help us change the law to bring greater control over the construction of Hilltracks.
LINK’s Hilltracks subgroup has been monitoring the spread of new Hilltracks for the past 3 years. We have now published our Changing Tracks report which sets out the results of our monitoring and calls for a change in the law to remove permitted development rights from agricultural tracks.
We now have a unique opportunity to raise this issue in the Scottish Parliament and change the law.
The Planning Bill is currently passing through the Scottish Parliament and Andy Wightman MSP has tabled an amendment which would finally bring such tracks fully into the planning system. This amendment (no 165) will be debated in the parliamentary committee in September.
What you can do
We need to demonstrate public support for our report and also for this amendment to make sure it’s passed.
Please email your MSPs to let them know this is an issue that means a lot to you. Suggested text:
I am very concerned that new and often poorly constructed hill tracks continue to blight Scotland’s world renowned upland landscapes. I support the findings of LINK’s Changing Tracks report. Andy Wightman MSP has put forward an amendment to the Planning Bill which would ensure that such hill tracks are subject to greater legal controls. I am writing to ask you to raise this issue with members of the Local Government and Communities Committee, and encourage them to support this amendment.
Find your MSPs here: http://www.parliament.scot/msps.aspx
The LINK Hilltracks campaign supports Andy Wightman’s amendment.
Thank you.
In addition to donations from the organisations participating in this project, funding has been generously provided by the British Mountaineering Council and the Scottish Mountaineering Trust.
