Active Cairngorms draft SEA
Cairngorms
NATIONAL PARK
Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh
Cairngorms National Park 2023 – 2028
Active Cairngorms Action Plan-
Action Plan
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Environmental Report
May 2024
Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
Cover Note PART 1 To: [email protected] SEA Gateway 2 H (South) Victoria Quay Edinburgh EH6 6QQ
PART 2
An SEA Scoping Report is attached for the plan, programme or strategy (PPS) entitled:
Active Cairngorms Action Plan 2023 2028
The Responsible Authority is: X Cairngorms National Park Authority
PART 3
The PPS falls under the scope of Section 5(3) of the Act and requires an SEA under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.or
The PPS falls under the scope of Section 5(4) of the Act and requires an SEA under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. or
The PPS does not require an SEA under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. However, we wish to carry out an SEA on a voluntary basis. We accept that, as this SEA is voluntary, the statutory 5 week timescale for views from the Consultation Authorities cannot be guaranteed.
PART 4
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
Contact name
Adam Streeter-Smith
Job Title
Recreation, Access and Infrastructure Manager
Contact address
Cairngorms National Park Authority 14 The Square Grantown-on-Spey PH26 3HG
Contact tel no
01479 870539
Contact email
adamstreetersmith@cairngorms.co.uk
PART 5
Signature
Adam Streeter-Smith (electronic signature is acceptable,
30th April 2024
Date
Table of Contents
- NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY……………………………………………………………5
- CONTEXT FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT………………………………5
Background……………………………………………………………………………………………..5 Alternatives……………………………………………………………………………………………..6 About the Active Cairngorms Action Plan and relationship to other Plans……..6 Other Relevant Plans, Programmes and Strategies……………………………………8 Topics considered……………………………………………………………………………………..9 Environmental baseline…………………………………………………………………………..10
- ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT…………………………………………………….10
Assessment carried out…………………………………………………………………………10 Other environmental assessments………………………………………………………….14
- MONITORING…………………………………………………………………………………….14
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
- NEXT STEPS……………………………………………………………………………………..14 Annex I: Active Cairngorms Action Plan 2023 – 28…………………………………………..15 Annex II: Relevant plans, programmes and strategies……………………………….16 Annex III: Baseline environmental data…………………………………………………………32 Annex IV: Population data analysis information…………………………………………33 Annex V: Outline information for Active Cairngorms Action Plan content scoped in… 39 Annex VI: Environmental assessment………………………………………………………….43 Annex VII: Main Environmental Objectives…………………………………………………77 Annex IX: Protected area condition data……………………………………………………….80
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
- NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY
This Environmental Report assesses the potential environmental effects of the Active Cairngorms Action Plan (Annex 1: CNPA Active Cairngorms Action Plan) for the Cairngorms National Park (figure 1).
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the Cairngorms National Park Authority Active Cairngorms Action Plan is a statutory requirement under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. SEA is a systematic process developed to ensure that potential environmental impacts of Plans, Programmes and Strategies (PPS) (both positive and negative) are assessed and considered during the course of their preparation. In this case the PPS constituted the Actions contained with the Plan.
This section presents a non-technical summary of the SEA Environmental Report of the Plan. The Environmental Report contains the findings of the environmental assessment, which establishes the likely significant (positive and negative) environmental effects of implementing the plan.
- CONTEXT FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT
Background
The current Active Cairngorms Plan covers the period 2015 – 2022. The new Active Cairngorms Action Plan, which is the subject of this report, will cover the National Park (figure 1) for the period 2023 — 2028. The Active Cairngorms Action Plan will support the delivery of the National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP). The NPPP is a five-year management plan covering the whole of the Cairngorms National Park area (figure 1) for the period 2022 – 2027, although it also contains targets up to 2040.
The Active Cairngorms Action Plan is required to meet the Outcomes, Actions and Policies in the National Park Partnership Plan. It relates to several outcomes in the NPPP namely:
Nature: Outcome – A carbon negative and biodiversity-rich National Park with better functioning, better connected and more resilient ecosystems.
People: Outcome – A wellbeing economy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms.
Place: Outcome – A place that people want to live in, and visit that works for all
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
Cromdale Glenlivet Carr-Bridge Dulnain Bridge Boat of Bridge Nethy Garten Aviemore Inverdruie Glenmore Kincraig Laggan Kingussie Insh Newtonmore Dalwhinnie Blair Atholl Killiecrankie Tomintoul Strathdon Dinnet Ballater Braemar Clova Glenshee 0 5 10 20 30 40 Kilometers North
Figure 1 – the area covered by the Active Cairngorms Action Plan Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of HMSO. © Crown copyright and database right 2024. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100040965 Cairngorms National Park Authority.
Alternatives
The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) worked with partner organisations to identify issues and solutions during the production of the NPPP. Unfeasible alternative solutions were ruled out during the drafting and refining process, meaning that the solutions felt by partners to be most viable were put forward into the NPPP. This included the need for the creation and implementation of the proposed Active Cairngorms Action Plan.
About the Active Cairngorms Action Plan and relationship to other Plans
The priority actions of the Active Cairngorms Action Plan are a direct reflection of the aims and objectives in the NPPP (2022−27), which was launched on 25
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
August 2022. It also aligns with the policies of the 2021 Local Development Plan (LDP). Both of these plans were subject to SEAs.
The Priority Actions within the Active Cairngorms Action Plan set against the three main themes set out by the NPPP, namely Nature, People and Place, and relevant objectives within those themes:
Nature: Outcome – A carbon negative and biodiversity-rich National Park with better functioning, better connected and more resilient ecosystems.
A7: Fire Management A13: Species Recovery
People: Outcome – A wellbeing economy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms.
B9: Mental and physical health B10: A Park for All B11: Volunteering and outdoor learning
Place: Outcome – A place that people want to live in, and visit that works for all
C5: Visitors to the National Park C7: Transport to and around the Park C8: Accessible path and cycle network C9: High-quality visitor experience C10: Cultural heritage
Principally the priority actions within the Active Cairngorms Action plan fall under two NPPP themes:
- People: Outcome – A wellbeing economy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms.
- Place: Outcome – A place that people want to live in, and visit that works for all
The Active Cairngorms Action Plan has been developed by the CNPA, with key stakeholders including the Cairngorms Local Outdoor Access Forum, Managing for Visitors Group, Sustainable Tourism Partnership, landowners, communities and representative bodies such s as Ramblers Scotland. The Action Plan is guided by the outcomes and policies within the NPPP. It sits beneath the second tier of plans (figure 2), programmes and strategies (such as the Local Development Plan and the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan).
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
National Park Partnership Plan is the
- Economic Strategy
- Capital Investment Strategy
- Sustainable Tourism Strategy
- Regional Spatial Strategy
- Regional Land Use Framework
- Climate Action Plan
Cairngorms Nature Action Plan
Local Development Plan Cairngorms Forest Strategy Sustainable Tourism Action Plan Wellbeing Economy Action Plan Active Cairngorms Action Plan (Health, active travel and access)
Strategic Tourism Infrastructure Plan
Figure 2: NPPP hierarchy of plans, NPPP 2022 – 27
The need and rationale for each Action Plan within the NPPP is specific and involves submission of each Plan to an external body in order to justify strategic programmes of investment or accreditation as part of a wider scheme. Therefore, the format of each of the Action Plans is somewhat different. Each Plan adds value to the Outcomes and Objectives set out in the National Park Partnership Plan and assists in the development and maintenance of the partnership structures and relationships that are important for delivery.
The hierarchy of plans is shown in Figure 2 with each Action Plan picking up primarily on the Nature (Green), People (Blue) and Place (Brown) sections of the NPPP. The Active Cairngorms Action Plan is therefore primarily concerned with addressing the People and Place Outcomes in the NPPP.
Other Relevant Plans, Programmes and Strategies
There are a large number of other plans, programmes and strategies (PPS) that are of relevance to the Active Cairngorms Action Plan. Due to their number, these
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
are listed in Annex II: Relevant plans, programmes and strategies. The PPS are categorised according to their international, national and local scales and are accompanied by information on their purpose, relationship with the Active Cairngorms Action Plan and their relevance to the environmental assessment.
The environmental assessment that informs this report considers the PPS that are active at the time of writing.
- CURRENT STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Topics considered
Schedule 3 of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 lists categories of potential environmental effects that should be considered as part of the environmental assessment process. These have been grouped together into eight Topic areas. The Topics are:
- Topic 1: Climatic Factors
- Topic 2: Air
- Topic 3: Water
- Topic 4: Soil (including geodiversity¹)
- Topic 5: Material Assets
- Topic 6: Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna
- Topic 7: Landscape and Cultural Heritage
- Topic 8: Population and Human Health
Of the eight SEA Topics, six have been scoped in and included in the environmental assessment:
- Topic 3: Water
- Topic 4: Soil (including geodiversity²)
- Topic 5: Material Assets
- Topic 6: Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna
- Topic 7: Landscape and Cultural Heritage
- Topic 8: Population and Human Health
1 Geodiversity is more relevant to soils (Topic 4) due to the small number of quarries in the National Park. The contribution of mineral extraction to resources is still included under Topic 5.
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
Environmental baseline
The Topic papers (Annex III: Baseline environmental data) present information on the environmental baseline, ordered by the six different topic areas. Annex IV: Population data analysis information provides information on how some elements of the population and human health baseline were assessed, due to complexities of gathering data at a National Park rather than Local Authority level.)
A different approach has been taken to presenting the baseline information, by using infographics rather than the traditional text heavy written report style. The aim of this is to make the information more accessible and understandable to consultees and the public. (The infographics are also suitable for use for more purposes than SEA alone. By being multi-purpose, this represents more efficient working for CNPA staff.). The infographics were produced using lengthy reports internally verified covering the topic areas.
The baseline data has been taken from a variety of sources, such as the 2011 Census, Scottish Government National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot, Registrar of Scotland, and the five Councils in the National Park. (Annex IV: Population data analysis information) provides details of how the population data was gathered at the National Park level.)
- ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Assessment carried out
Six priority actions were identified as having the potential to have significant environmental effects, outlined in the screening report. Annex V: Outline information for Active Cairngorms Action Plan content scoped in details which priority actions have been scoped in and why. Sufficient information is available to enable high level scoping for potential environmental effects by using the broad categories outlined by SEA Topics.
The environmental assessment is presented in Annex VI: Environmental assessment. The priority actions in the Active Cairngorms Action Plan form the basis of the deliverable outcomes of the Plan which fulfils the criteria set out by the NPPP and National Outcomes. Therefore the focus of the environmental
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
assessment has been solely on the priority actions, as these are what have the potential to drive environmental change.
Table 1 – scoring matrix
| Significance of Effect | |
|---|---|
| Element would have a major positive environmental effect in itscurrent form as it would resolve an existing issue or maximiseopportunities. SIGNIFICANT. | ++ |
| Element would have a minor positive environmental effect. | + |
| Effect of element is uncertain. | ? |
| No connectivity with the environmental Topic/Objective beingassessed. | X |
| Element would have no predicted environmental effects. | 0 |
| Element would have a minor adverse environmental effect. | - |
| The element would have a major adverse environmental effectas it would create significant new problems or substantiallyexacerbate existing problems. Consider exclusion of option.SIGNIFICANT. | — |
The Priority Actions set out in the Plan were found to have no major or minor adverse environmental affects in relation to the objectives (Annex VII: Main Environmental Objectives) set out by the scoping report. To provide a framework for analysis the sub-objectives have been categorised numerically (see Annex VIII: SEA Sub-objectives).
The Plan produces numerous benefits to Nature, People and Place and should be supported in its adoption. Where the effects are uncertain, monitoring and evaluation will be key to understanding the effects and the results can be integrated into further plans and policies in the future.
Cumulative environmental effects
The actions have been numbered in the order they are presented in the Plan (Annex VIII: SEA Sub-objectives) and the residual effects after mitigation recorded (table 2). This allows a quick snapshot examination of the environmental effects of all the actions contained within the Plan.
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
| Managing for Visitors | Minimising impacts on sensitive species and habitats | Public Health in the outdoors | Volunteer Cairngorms | Young People and Outdoor Learning | Paths and trails | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEA Sub objective | Priority Actions | |||||
| 3a1 | ||||||
| 3a2 | ||||||
| 3a3 | ||||||
| 3c1 | ||||||
| 4a1 | ||||||
| 4a2 | ||||||
| 4a3 | ||||||
| 4a4 | ||||||
| 4a5 | ||||||
| 5a1 | ||||||
| 5a2 | ||||||
| 5a3 | ||||||
| 691 | ||||||
| 6a2 | ||||||
| 693 | ||||||
| 694 | ||||||
| 6a5 | ||||||
| 696 | ||||||
| 6a7 | ||||||
| 7a1 | ||||||
| 7a2 | ||||||
| 7b1 | ||||||
| 8a1 | ||||||
| 892 | ||||||
| 8a3 |
Table 2 (above) Cumulative Environmental effects
Consideration of cumulative/in combination effects was part of the assessment process, rather than being a separate assessment. In the assessment of the
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
cumulative effects of the Actions set out in the Plan the report will not report on the Actions that have either no predicted effects or no connectivity with the environmental Topic/Objective being assessed.
Positive environmental effects
The positive effects of the Plan can be summarised as follows:
- Positive minor effects.
- Uncertainty on the effects
The Priority Action “minimising impacts on sensitive species and habitats” was deemed to have significant positive effects on topic 6 and the sub-objectives namely;
| 6α | Will there be an effect on the favourablecondition of areas protected for natureconservation? |
| 6α | Will there be an effect on protectedspecies? |
| 6α | Will there be an effect on CairngormsNature Action Plan habitats and plants? |
| 6α | Will there be an effect on CairngormsNature Action Plan bird and mammalspecies? |
| 6α | Will there be an effect on widerbiodiversity (outwith protected areas andthe habitats and species identified in theCNAP) in the National Park? |
This Action Plan will assist with the nature aims of the National Park set out in the NPPP and Nature Action Plan.
Disregarding the uncertain effects, the cumulative effects are significantly positive across the majority of sub-objectives.
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
Summary
The implementation of the Active Cairngorms Action Plan should be supported as the assessment shows it will support the majority of the affected sub-objectives set out in the scoping report in a positive manner (some significantly).
Other environmental assessments
A Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) was undertaken and it has been concluded that it is unlikely that it will have a significant effect on any of the European sites within the Cairngorms National Park.
- MONITORING
The Active Cairngorms Action Plan is a subset of the NPPP that has been subject to a SEA including the development of a monitoring framework that will be used for the Active Cairngorms Action Plan.
- NEXT STEPS
The Active Cairngorms Action Plan has gained CNPA Board approval, and will be adopted subject to minor amendments as a consequence of the Environmental Report consultation. Once the SEA consultation is complete a post-adoption statement on the Environmental Report will be issued.
For further information contact:
Cairngorms National Park Authority 14 the Square Grantown-on-Spey PH25 3HG
Email: outdoor@cairngorms.co.uk Tel: 01479 873535 Fax: 01479 873527
www.cairngorms.co.uk
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
Annex I: Active Cairngorms Action Plan 2023 – 28
See separate Active Cairngorms Action Plan PDF
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Active Cairngorms Action Plan SEA April 2024
Annex II: Relevant plans, programmes and strategies
Annex II: Relevant plans, programmes and strategies
| Relevant PPS | Relevant objectives/purpose | SEA Topic | Relationship between the PPS andthe plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Directives and Policies | |||
| European LandscapeConvention (EuropeanCommission, 2000) | Promotes the protection, management and planning ofEuropean landscapes and organises European co-operationon landscape issues | Biodiversity,Flora andFaunaLandscape andCulturalheritagePopulationand Humanhealth | Where relevant to the prioritiesidentified, the proposals should bea tool for the maintenance andrestoration of landscapes and theirnatural habitats. |
| The Pan-European Biologicaland Landscape DiversityStrategy (Council of Europe,1995) | The Strategy aims to reverse the decline of landscape andbiological diversity, by promoting innovation and proactivepolicy making. | Biodiversity,Flora andFaunaLandscape andCulturalHeritagePopulationand Humanhealth | Where relevant to the prioritiesidentified, the proposals shouldsupport the Strategy by consideringthe contribution that actions couldmake to protecting biodiversity andlandscapes. |
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| Relevant PPS | Relevant objectives/purpose | SEA Topic | Relationship between the PPS andthe plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramsar Convention onWetlands of InternationalImportance 1971 | Requires conservation and wise use of wetlands. | WaterBiodiversity,Flora andFaunaLandscape andCulturalHeritage | Where relevant to the prioritiesidentified, the proposals shouldensure the protection andenhancement of wetlands. |
| Thematic Strategy for SoilProtection (EU 2006) | A sector based strategy produced as a requirement of theSeventh Environmental Action Programme of the EuropeanCommunity, seeking to establish common principles for theprotection and sustainable use of soils. | Soil andgeodiversity | Where relevant to the prioritiesidentified, the proposals shouldcontribute towards the protectionand improvement of soil. |
| UN Convention on BiologicalDiversity (UN, 1992) | An international legally-binding treaty with three maingoals: conservation of biodiversity; sustainable use ofbiodiversity; fair and equitable sharing of the benefitsarising from the use of genetic resources. | Biodiversity,Flora andFauna | Where relevant to the prioritiesidentified, the proposals shouldlook for opportunities to conserve,and where possible restore,biodiversity. |
| National Legislation (UK and Scotland) | |||
| Ancient Monuments andArchaeological Areas Act 1979(as amended by HistoricEnvironment (Amendment)(Scotland) Act 2011) | Prescribes the approach to be taken to planning fors |