Part 7: Conservation Covenants Section 125: Enforcement of obligation
Section 125 sets out the remedies that are available in proceedings for the enforcement of an obligation under a conservation covenant. It also provides that when considering, in the context of an application for equitable relief, what remedy is appropriate, the court must take into account any public interest in the performance of the obligation concerned.
	Contract principles apply to awards of damages (subsection (3)), and in particular the rules that determine remoteness of damage. Contractual damages compensate the claimant for loss; and, in most cases, the direct loss to the responsible body as a result of breach of an obligation in a conservation covenant may be insignificant. For that reason, it is expected that in most cases the remedy sought will be an injunction, or an order for specific performance of the obligation. In considering claims for an injunction, the court has discretion to award damages instead, and in that context it is expected that a consideration of the public interest will be particularly significant.
	Subsection (4) enables the court to award exemplary damages where a landowner has breached obligations. This is to ensure that a landowner is not able to profit from a breach of an obligation in a conservation covenant – for example, by developing the land in contravention of the covenant in circumstances where compensatory damages may be very small. In such circumstances, the court can make an award of damages that will strip the landowner of any profit from the beach of covenant.
	Subsection (5) provides that the limitation period in respect of an action for breach of an obligation under a conservation covenant is the same as the limitation period under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 for an action founded on simple contract. This means that any proceedings in respect of a conservation covenant cannot generally be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.