Lochaber conservation order confirmed after inquiry

The Lochaber conservation order restricting development-related operations on a protected Highland landscape has been confirmed with modifications after representations prompted a public inquiry. The changes affect 44.9 hectares of land near Achnabobane and explicitly address fencing, existing infrastructure, species introductions and planning enforcement.

The Scottish Government’s confirmation notice, published on 8th October 2026, concerns part of the Parallel Roads of Lochaber Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), near Spean Bridge. A reporter was appointed following representations to the original 2025 Order, and Ministers have now adopted a revised text and replacement boundary map.

This is a legally significant, site-specific conservation restriction, not a new nationwide Scottish planning policy or a blanket ban across the whole SSSI. For people who own, buy or advise on land inside the mapped area, the precise extent of the Order and its exceptions may determine whether even apparently modest works can proceed.

Lochaber conservation order: what the revised rules cover

The Order is made under section 23 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, a mechanism designed to protect natural features for which land has been designated an SSSI. In this case the protected interest includes the nationally important geological and glacial landscape of the Parallel Roads of Lochaber.

The consolidated Order and revised map identify 44.9 hectares within the Achnabobane area. The Order does not cover every parcel within that geographical outline: its schedule specifically excludes the A82 and associated Transport Scotland land, a cluster of houses around Achnasol House, and certain existing tracks. This is why a general postcode search or the larger SSSI designation cannot safely substitute for examining the signed map.

The revised prohibited operations still encompass activities with obvious planning implications: dumping material, moving soil with machinery, extracting minerals, altering natural features, making tracks or hardstanding, digging drainage channels, laying or removing cables and pipelines, and placing structures including cabins, caravans and temporary facilities. Those restrictions are separate from, and potentially additional to, ordinary development-control requirements.

The September modifications now treat the construction of walls and fences as a separate prohibited operation rather than grouping those works with the wider removal and destruction wording. The changes also remove the broad reference to maintenance from the earlier infrastructure provision and introduce a distinct exemption for certain lawful existing infrastructure.

Lawful existing infrastructure gets a qualified maintenance exemption

One of the most practical amendments appears in article 3(2). It provides that the specified infrastructure restrictions do not prevent repair, maintenance or like for like replacement of infrastructure which existed when the Order came into force, provided that it was lawful for the purposes of section 150(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.

That qualification matters. The modification is not a general licence to create a new track, enlarge a hardstanding, install an additional pipe or replace an unlawful structure. Anyone relying on it should establish both the prior existence and the relevant lawful status of the infrastructure, and check that the proposed works are genuinely maintenance or like-for-like replacement.

The Order also contains an exception for development granted planning permission under Part III of the 1997 Act, but expressly excludes permission arising from a development order made under section 30. In practical terms, advisers should not assume that permitted development rights alone disapply this separate conservation restriction. Nor does an exception under the conservation Order, by itself, establish that planning permission or another required consent exists.

Changes to species, fencing and enforcement

The restrictions on planting and introduction of species have been made more precise. Instead of a broad prohibition on planting trees or shrubs, the revised wording addresses planting trees, shrubs, plants or seeds outside their native range, using the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 definition. Separate provisions concern specified livestock, poultry and gamebirds, including pheasants and red-legged partridges, rather than every animal or plant species that was absent when the Order began.

A further express exception concerns planting outside the native range where carried out in accordance with an order made by Scottish Ministers under section 14(2B) of the 1981 Act. These are carefully defined statutory exceptions, not a general relaxation of controls over habitat damage or unauthorised ground disturbance.

The October confirmation notice also adds an exception for work undertaken in compliance with a planning enforcement notice or other enforcement action. That prevents the conservation restrictions from automatically frustrating properly required remedial work, although the exact wording raises an issue which practitioners should notice.

Important discrepancy between the notice and consolidated Order

The Scottish Government’s published confirmation notice describes the enforcement exception as referring to Part VI of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. However, paragraph 4(k) in the published consolidated Order refers to Part IV.

Part VI is the enforcement part of the 1997 Act. The difference is therefore not merely cosmetic. Planning Geek has not treated the apparent inconsistency as proof that either document is legally ineffective. Parties contemplating remedial operations should check the signed instrument and obtain clarification from the Scottish Government or their legal advisers rather than rely on one conflicting reproduction of the text.

There is also a distinction between the 2025 Order’s making and publication dates. The 2026 notice describes the earlier Order as taking effect from 30th September 2025, whereas the original published notice stated that it took effect from 23rd October 2025. The new modifications are described as having effect from the date of the 2026 notice. Those carrying out date-sensitive due diligence should verify the authoritative record rather than conflate making, publication and commencement.

Why the Highland site has attracted enforcement concern

This is not an abstract dispute about wording. In September 2025, the Highland Council warned prospective buyers about small plots being marketed in environmentally sensitive areas including Achnabobane, where claims of development potential could be misleading. The council stressed that sites may lack infrastructure or viable access and that purchasers should obtain professional planning advice before buying.

Police Scotland separately reported an investigation into suspected damage to the SSSI involving ground disturbance and the formation of hardstanding. A police officer described the location as an internationally renowned geological site, with glacial features vulnerable to disturbance. Those reports concern earlier alleged activities and should not be mistaken for findings about any individual buyer or landowner affected by the newly confirmed Order.

Highland Council records also show that a February 2025 planning enforcement notice concerning a substantial area of land at Achnabobane was served on numerous parties and generated multiple appeals. The revised nature conservation restrictions now sit alongside that existing planning-control history. The legal requirements and rights of any particular owner depend on the relevant land, notices and lawful-use evidence, not merely on the fact that the area has featured in previous enforcement reporting.

Penalties and the practical checks for landowners

The Scottish Government’s notice states that breach of the Order by undertaking a prohibited operation may expose a person to a fine of up to £40,000 on summary conviction, or an unlimited fine on indictment. Those maximum penalties should not be read as an automatic outcome for any specific works: liability depends on the statutory offence, evidence and court process.

Before buying or working on land near Achnabobane, a practitioner should check the revised signed boundary map, not just the SSSI designation. They should establish whether any proposed excavation, fencing, access improvement, building, planting or restoration falls within the operative prohibited-operations list, and whether a clearly evidenced statutory exception applies.

It is equally important to examine planning permissions, existing lawful-use evidence, any enforcement notice, previous NatureScot consent, forestry obligations and the condition of the geological features. The order’s maintenance language makes historic evidence especially valuable: photographs, dated drawings and lawfulness records may determine whether proposed works can genuinely be classed as replacing pre-existing infrastructure.

For readers outside this particular site, the wider lesson is about overlapping planning and environmental controls. A planning application, an assertion of permitted development or the purchase of a tiny plot does not automatically neutralise SSSI protections. Planning Geek’s general planning enforcement guidance explains the separate planning-control route, but Scottish statutory provisions and the actual terms of this Order govern this case.

What happens next?

The new confirmation concludes the representation and inquiry stage described by the Scottish Government. The modified Order and substituted September 2026 map are now published, and their site-specific restrictions should be considered in relevant work programmes and land transactions.

The key outstanding editorial point is the discrepancy between the government’s notice and consolidated text over the enforcement cross-reference. Until clarified, the prudent approach is to use the primary signed instruments and obtain case-specific advice before relying on that exception. Nothing in the publication changes Scotland-wide permitted development rules or grants development rights over the affected landscape.

Primary documents: Scottish Government confirmation and consolidated Order and boundary map. Background: Highland Council land-purchase warning.