Work on a hilltrack

A Scottish politician is urging outdoors enthusiasts to make their views known when a consultation paper on hilltracks is published next week.

Labour MSP Peter Peacock understands the document will be issued on the final day of the Holyrood Parliament on 22 March, before its dissolution.

Mr Peacock has been instrumental, along with fellow Labour MSP Sarah Boyack, in supporting the Mountaineering Council of Scotland’s campaign to curtail landowners’ and estate managers’ rights to bulldoze tracks across Scottish mountains.

The Highlands and Islands MSP said: “Once the consultation is published you will be able to access a copy of it on the MCofS website and the Scottish Government’s consultation page where it will be listed as a consultation relating to the General Permitted Development Order.

“I would like to encourage as many people as possible to make their views known to the Government and once again to demonstrate the strength of feeling that exists on this issue. With election season upon us there is also an opportunity to seek the views of candidates and to petition them to support greater regulation of hilltracks in Scotland.”

Mr Peacock, who is standing down as an MSP at the next election, thanked supporters for their actions on the hilltracks campaign, adding: “I will be doing my utmost to ensure that my colleagues both locally and nationally continue to champion this most worthwhile of causes.”