230310PCApprovedMinutes

Minutes of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Meet­ing Held at Mac­don­ald Aviemore High­land Resort, Aviemore In per­son 10 March 2023 at 10.30am

Present Gaen­er Rodger (Plan­ning Con­vener) Elean­or Mack­in­tosh (Deputy Plan­ning Con­vener) Deirdre Fal­con­er Chris Beat­tie John Kirk Anne Rae Mac­don­ald Xan­der McDade (Board Con­vener) Wil­li­am McK­enna Derek Ross Rus­sell Jones Bill Lob­ban Douglas McAdam Fiona McLean Wil­li­am Munro

In Attend­ance Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning Peter Fer­guson, Harp­er MacLeod LLP Alan Atkins, Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Man­ager) Dan Har­ris, Plan­ning Man­ager (For­ward Plan­ning and Ser­vice Improve­ment) Stephanie Wade, Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment) Emma Bryce, Plan­ning Man­ager (Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment) Deirdre Straw, Plan­ning Admin­is­trat­or and Sys­tems Officer Kar­en Arch­er, Press & Cor­por­ate Com­mu­nic­a­tions Officer Catri­ona Strang, Clerk to the Board James Ade, Clerk to the Board

Apo­lo­gies Janet Hunter Ann Ross Geva Blackett

Agenda Item 1&2 Wel­come and introduction

1. The Con­vener wel­comed all present includ­ing mem­bers of the pub­lic to the meet­ing and the apo­lo­gies were noted.
2. The con­vener wel­come Sarah Fletch­er new plan­ning office in attend­ance of the meeting.
3. Should a mem­ber wish to have a motion be joined by Peter Fer­guson in a sep­ar­ate room.

Agenda Item 3 Declar­a­tions of interest

1. John Kirk declared a fin­an­cial Interest in Item 7 and a non-fin­an­cial Interest in Item 8. Reas­on: Item 7 the mem­ber has sim­il­ar com­mer­cial unit in Aviemore, mem­ber will with­draw for this Item. Item 8 the mem­ber has let­ting units in Aviemore but has no con­flict of interest.
2. Anne Rae Mac­don­ald declared a non-fin­an­cial Interest in Item 7. Reas­on: a mem­ber of GoR­ur­al pro­mot­ing agri-tour­ism, does not pre­clude for being Involved In. for open­ness and transparency
3. Derek Ross declared a non-fin­an­cial Interest in Item 10. Reas­on: the mem­ber has made pre­vi­ous crit­ic­al com­ments plan­ning pro­cess on large scale wind farms. Mem­ber will with­draw for this item.
4. Bill Lob­ban and Rus­sell Jones declared a non-fin­an­cial interest in Item 11. Reas­on: Decision of High­land Coun­cil. Mem­bers will with­draw for this item.

Agenda Item 4 Minutes of Pre­vi­ous Meet­ing 27 Janu­ary 2023 and mat­ters arising

1. The minutes of the pre­vi­ous meet­ing, 27 Janu­ary 2023, held video con­fer­en­cing were approved with no amend­ments. a) Para 8.1 — Response made to High­land Coun­cil — closed

Agenda Item 5 Update on the Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4

1. Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning presen­ted the paper to the com­mit­tee, con­firm­ing its status as part of the Devel­op­ment Plan for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. a) Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning high­lighted to the com­mit­tee the rela­tion­ship between wind farm energy and wild­land areas. If mem­bers would like a prin­ted copy please let us know and we can print a copy.

2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing point was raised: a) A mem­ber noted that head of Stra­tegic high­lighted the wind farm energy and wild­land, do you see this advice increas­ing lands being used for wind farms. Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning con­firmed that this Is likely due to inten­tion of increase use of wind energy. The policy with­in the nation­al pack has not change but may reduce the cases of NatureScot object­ing to wind farms out­side the nation­al park.

3. That Mem­bers note the adop­tion of NPF4 and its status as part of the Devel­op­ment Plan cov­er­ing the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.
4. Action Point arising: — none

Agenda Item 6 Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2022/0358/DET (22/04654/FUL) Form­a­tion of road, suds basin (07/230/CP and 2018/0242/DET) at Land between Perth Road and Sta­tion Road, New­ton­more. Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve with conditions

1. Alan Atkins, Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Man­ager) presen­ted the paper to the committee.
2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing point was raised:

a) A mem­ber asked If the area would be fenced off or If advice would be giv­en to res­id­ents about water safety. Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Man­ager) con­firmed that the area would not be fenced off and would be up to the developer to provide adequate sig­nage of any dangers and would not be a plan­ning con­di­tion. Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning con­firmed that it would be developer and hous­ing asso­ci­ations respons­ib­il­ity to com­plete their own safety assess­ment of the area and the engin­eers designed would be in the thresholds of safety and access. b) A mem­ber com­men­ted that could the exit­ing tree be retained. Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Man­ager) con­firmed that the trees would be removed and replanted with nat­ive shrubs and trees.

1. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the recom­mend­a­tion in the Officer’s report.
2. Action Point arising: — none

John Kirk Left the meet­ing at 10.55am

Agenda Item 7 Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2023/0007/DET (22/05824/FUL) Erec­tion of 22 self-cater­ing apart­ments, shops, hotel and under­ground park­ing at Land 80M SW of Moun­tain Café, 111 Grampi­an Road, Aviemore Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve with conditions

1. Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning presen­ted the paper to the Com­mit­tee and noted that the applic­ant had reduced the height of the build­ings since pre­vi­ous applic­a­tion, and they are will­ing to make a con­tri­bu­tion to road safety, access and act­ive travel with­in Aviemore. There are con­straints with access from Grampi­an Road but this can be done safely. Objec­tions have been received from SEPA and High­land Coun­cil in rela­tion to the flood risk and flood mod­el­ling of the area, where a

small encroach­ment could hap­pen on the access road and under­ground car park. The site Is not Ideal of hous­ing due to the location.

1. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing point was raised: a) A mem­ber asked wanted reas­sur­ance of the developers con­tri­bu­tion to act­ive travel. Also wanted con­firm­a­tion if the whole applic­a­tion would be revived by Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment due to the Scot­tish Envir­on­ment­al Pro­tec­tion Agency objec­tion or just the aspect Scot­tish Envir­on­ment­al Pro­tec­tion Agency are object­ing to. even with the applic­a­tion being called in to Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment with the objec­tion from Scot­tish Envir­on­ment­al Pro­tec­tion Agency. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning asked Peter Fer­guson for Harp­er McLeod to answer the ques­tions. After the ini­tial call in noti­fic­a­tion from the stat­utory con­sul­tee (Scot­tish Envir­on­ment­al Pro­tec­tion Agency) the min­is­ter will then either review the mater­i­al or call for pub­lic enquiry. The report­er at a pub­lic enquiry include all rel­ev­ant plan­ning con­sid­er­a­tions. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning noted that plans are being worked up on poten­tial act­ive travel and travel move­ment solu­tions on Grampi­an Road to look at costs versus fund­ing avail­able. It is poten­tial that money may be return to the developer depend­ing on times­cale of act­ive travel pro­ject. b) A mem­ber asked for Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning to review the key points on flood­ing. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning poin­ted out the areas affected by poten­tial flood­ing would be the access to under­ground card park and main access from Grampi­an Road. none of the prop­erty would be egressed by water. c) A mem­ber asked if any flood­ing had taken place in this area in the last num­ber of years. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning con­firmed that no flood­ing event either from over­flow of cul­vert upstream or from the River Spey back­ing up had taken place in recent years. A mem­ber noted that they had nev­er seen the site flood and had been in Aviemore since 1960’s. d) A mem­ber wanted con­firm­a­tion that the elev­a­tion on hotel the reduc­tion on height. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning con­firmed the hotel had been reduced by 1.7 metres in height.

2. Robert Evans (plan­ning Con­sult­ant) was invited by the Con­vener to address the committee.

3. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity to the speak­er, the fol­low­ing points were raised:

e) A mem­ber noted the reduc­tion in ridge height and want assur­ances that the developer would not be seek­ing amend­ments and that set out in the plans would be delivered. Robert Evans was able to give assur­ances that the ridge heigh would not be amended. f) A mem­ber ask Is dur­ing con­struc­tion and envir­on­ment­al audit would take place and how often. Robert Evans con­firmed that the plan­ning author­ity can impose an envir­on­ment­al audit and the dur­a­tion. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning that SEPA would set out in their licence mon­it­or­ing con­trols and the Park Author­ity would also com­plete our own mon­it­or­ing of the site.

1. Tessa Jones, Badenoch and strath­spey con­ser­va­tion Group was Invited by the Con­vener to address the committee.

2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity to the speak­er, the fol­low­ing points were raised: g) A mem­ber cla­ri­fied that they were not object­ing about the spe­cif­ic site, the con­cerns about cumu­lat­ive devel­op­ments in the area effect­ing the burn. Tessa Jones noted they were con­cerned about the spe­cif­ic site being on the flood plain and no altern­at­ive land for water to go to.

3. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report, the fol­low­ing points were raised: h) Mem­bers com­men­ded the developer for redu­cing the height of the build­ing and encour­aged this type of devel­op­ment with­in the town. i) A mem­ber wanted assur­ances from the developer that they min­im­ise the impact on the burn and look for­ward to the regen­er­a­tion of the buf­fer zone. A mem­ber noted that the site is brown field and looks for­ward for the devel­op­ment, with a bet­ter buf­fer area and hold more biod­iversity than it cur­rently does. The con­vener noted the assur­ances around the burn but Import­ant aspect and on refus­al the developer have come back on com­ments and had pos­it­ive out­comes at pre­vi­ous sites, sup­port the recom­mend­a­tion. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning noted the com­mit­tee mem­ber points that con­di­tions imposed on the devel­op­ment to ensure the burn eco­logy is maintained.

4. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the recom­mend­a­tion in the Officer’s report.

5. Action Point arising: — none

John Kirk re-entered the room at 12.05pm

Agenda Item 8 Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion (2022/0057/DET) (22/00277/FUL) Erec­tion of 20 No. Com­mer­cial Let­ting Units and access roads, Land 85M SE of Batch­ing Plant, Knock­gran­ish, Aviemore Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve with conditions

1. Stephanie Wade, Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment) presen­ted the paper to the Committee.

2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing point was raised: a) A Mem­ber raised sur­prised that it is still a nor­mal T junc­tion and not a stack­ing lane due to vis­ib­il­ity issues. The Plan­ning Officer cla­ri­fied that it was con­sidered sat­is­fact­ory with traffic levels. b) A Mem­ber ques­tioned wheth­er there was an agree­ment between users and upkeep of the road. The Plan­ning Officer cla­ri­fied that the road is going to be improved to a bet­ter stand­ard in the applic­a­tion, widen­ing and resurfacing.

3. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report, the fol­low­ing points were raised: c) Mul­tiple Mem­bers raised that there is a need for more units like the ones pro­posed in Aviemore. d) A Mem­ber raised that the speed lim­it should be moved on to the access road, redu­cing it to 40mph or 30mph. Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning respon­ded that was out with the applic­a­tion should be raised with the High­land Coun­cil. e) The Con­vener raised that the applic­a­tion sup­ports the 20minute neigh­bour­hood model.

4. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the recom­mend­a­tion in the Officer’s report.

Action Point Arising: — none

Agenda Item 9 Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2023/0081/DET Applic­a­tion under S75A of the Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Scot­land) Act 1997 to request dis­charge of the leg­al agree­ment to remove the occu­pancy restric­tion asso­ci­ated with plan­ning per­mis­sion 06/336/CP Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve

1. Emma Bryce, Plan­ning Man­ager (Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment) presen­ted the paper to the Committee

2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing point was raised: a) A Mem­ber asked for cla­ri­fic­a­tion on wheth­er remov­ing sec­tion 75 would allow the abil­ity to sell off parts of the prop­erty. The Plan­ning Man­ager cla­ri­fied this was cor­rect. Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning added that the applic­a­tion was just to dis­charge sec­tion 75 was so that the own­er can make a decision.

3. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report, the fol­low­ing points were raised: b) Mem­bers noted that while sec­tion 75 did play a role in what the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee try­ing to achieve at the time, they had made mistakes.

4. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the recom­mend­a­tion in the Officer’s report.

Action Point arising: — none Derek ross left room at 12.30pm

Agenda Item 10 For Decision Our­ack Wind Farm (2022/0382/PAC) (ECU00001999) Recom­mend­a­tion: No Objection

1. Stephanie Wade, Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment), presen­ted the paper to the committee

2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing point was raised: a) The Con­vener ques­tioned why the access route to the site was from the South rather than using roads to the North which are used to ser­vice the already exist­ing wind­farms to the North. The Plan­ning Officer respon­ded that an abnor­mal load route assess­ment has been taken and oth­er routes were looked. How­ever, due to the size of the tur­bines the vouches car­ried them need to be 80 meters in length this route was deemed to have the least impact. b) A Mem­ber asked for cla­ri­fic­a­tion on wheth­er the Com­mit­tee was being asked to delib­er­ate part A and Part B of the plan­ning applic­a­tion sep­ar­ately. Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning con­firmed this.

3. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report, the fol­low­ing points were raised: c) A Mem­ber ques­tioned wheth­er mem­bers should be look­ing at View­point One in the same con­text as the oth­er view­points which are in wil­der­ness set­tings. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning respon­ded that View­point One is just out­side the park to give an indic­a­tion of what the view from the park bound­ary would be like, which the oth­er view­points do not show. The oth­er view­points have been chosen due to their sens­it­ive loc­a­tions. Addi­tion­ally, the sit­ing of the tur­bines in the ori­gin­al plans were sig­ni­fic­antly worse and the developer has made an effort to move the tur­bines fur­ther away to pos­i­tions where they are less vis­ible. d) A Mem­ber ques­tioned wheth­er there would be any com­munity bene­fits for com­munit­ies in the park close to the wind­farm and access routes. Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning respon­ded that the wind­farm would be mak­ing con­tri­bu­tions to com­munit­ies in the nation­al park and there will not be a sig­ni­fic­ant impact to the Dava Way.

4. The Com­mit­tee approved both Part A and Part B of the applic­a­tion as per the recom­mend­a­tion in the Officer’s report.

Action Point arising: — none Derek Ross entered the room at 12.50pm Bill Lob­ban and Rus­sell Jones left the room at 12.50pm

Agenda Item 11 For Decision Response to High­land Coun­cil Con­sulta­tion on Grant­own Con­ser­va­tion Man­age­ment Plan

1. Dan Har­ris, Plan­ning Man­ager (For­ward Plan­ning and Ser­vice Improve­ment), presen­ted the paper to inform the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee of High­land Council’s con­sulta­tion on a Draft Grant­own on Spey Con­ser­va­tion Area Man­age­ment Plan and to agree the Cairngorm Nation­al Park Authority’s response to the consultation.

2. That the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee agree to officers sub­mit­ting the response to the con­sulta­tion out­lined in this report.

Action Point Arising: — none

Bill and Rus­sel entered the room at 12.57pm

Agenda Item 12 AOC

1. The Con­vener noted that it would be Alans Atkins’ last Plan­ning Com­mit­tee and him on behalf of the Committee.

2. The Con­vener noted that it was Wil­lie McKenna’s last Plan­ning Com­mit­tee. Wil­lie has been on the Com­mit­tee from the begin­ning and the Con­vener thanked him on behalf of all cur­rent and past mem­bers. Addi­tion­ally, the Con­vener noted it was Wil­lie Munro’s and Anne Rae MacDonald’s last Plan­ning Com­mit­tee, thank­ing them, on behalf of the Com­mit­tee, for the con­tri­bu­tions and sens­it­iv­ity of questioning.

Agenda Item 13 The date of the next meet­ing is Fri­day 28^th April in Grant­own on Spey.

The pub­lic busi­ness of the meet­ing con­cluded at 01.00pm.