Approved Planning minutes - 14 November 2025

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 14 Novem­ber 2025 Page 1 of 10

Minutes of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Meeting

Held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity HQ, Grant­own-on-Spey Hybrid 14 Novem­ber 2025 at 11.00am

Present in person Rus­sell Jones (Con­vener) Sandy Brem­ner Dr Peter Cos­grove Kenny Deans Bill Lob­ban Elean­or Mack­in­tosh Steve Mickle­wright Derek Ross

Paul Gibb (Deputy Con­vener) Jack­ie Brier­ton Dr Han­nah Grist John Kirk Lauren Mac­Cal­lum Ian McLar­en Duncan Miller Michael Williamson

Vir­tu­al Geva Black­ett Dr Fiona McLean Ann Ross Emma Bryce, Plan­ning Man­ager (Devel­op­ment Man­ager) Scott Shanks, Eco­logy Adviser

Apo­lo­gies None

In Attend­ance Gav­in Miles, Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning and Place Dav­id Berry, Head of Plan­ning and Chief Plan­ning Officer Peter Fer­guson, Harp­er MacLeod LLP Kath­er­ine Don­nach­ie, Plan­ning Officer, Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment Katie Crerar, Plan­ning Officer (Devel­op­ment Management)

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Dee Straw, Plan­ning Admin­is­trat­or and Sys­tems Officer Emma Green­lees, Plan­ning Sys­tems Sup­port Kar­en John­stone, Clerk to the Board

Agenda Item 1

Wel­come and Apologies

1. Rus­sell Jones, Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Con­vener wel­comed all present includ­ing mem­bers of the pub­lic. There were no apologies.

Agenda Items 2 and 3

Minutes of Pre­vi­ous Meet­ings and Mat­ters Arising

1. The minutes of the pre­vi­ous meet­ing on 29 August 2025 held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, Grant­own-on-Spey, were approved with no amendments.
2. Dav­id Berry, Chief Plan­ning Officer and Head of Plan­ning provided an update on action points arising from the minutes of 13 June 2025: a) At Para 31 i) – Site vis­it to River Tromie to be arranged pri­or to next Com­mit­tee meet­ing. Closed – site vis­it took place on 10 Octo­ber 2025. b) At Para 38 i) – Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Con­vener to write a let­ter to the applic­ant express­ing the Committee’s dis­ap­point­ment about the ret­ro­spect­ive nature of the applic­a­tion. Closed – let­ter sent. c) At Para 60 i) – Amend­ments to Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Stand­ing Orders to be made pri­or to present­a­tion to the Board. Closed – completed.

Agenda Item 4

Declar­a­tions of Interest

1. Dr Pete Cos­grove declared an interest in item 5 as he and his com­pany (Alba Eco­logy) have under­taken eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys and provided eco­lo­gic­al advice in rela­tion to this applic­a­tion and so would leave the meet­ing for the dur­a­tion of this item.
2. Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Con­vener reminded the Com­mit­tee that as per stand­ing orders, those who had not atten­ded a site vis­it for an applic­a­tion would not be able to take part in the dis­cus­sion and decision on that item. This would apply to the

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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fol­low­ing mem­bers in rela­tion to item 5: Geva Black­ett, Jack­ie Brier­ton, Fiona McLean, Steve Mickle­wright, Ann Ross and Derek Ross Geva Black­ett, Jack­ie Brier­ton, Pete Cos­grove, Fiona McLean, Steve Mickle­wright, Ann Ross and Derek Ross left the meet­ing at 11.08am.

Agenda Item 5

Applic­a­tion for Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2025/0104/DET

Realign­ment of 400m of River Tromie At Land 670M NW of Dell of Kil­liehuntly Farm­house, Kin­gussie Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve sub­ject to conditions

1. Kath­er­ine Don­nach­ie, Plan­ning Officer, Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment presen­ted the paper to the committee.
2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask the Plan­ning Officer for clar­ity, and the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) Dis­cus­sions were had around why an eco­nom­ic impact assess­ment had not been done for the sur­round­ing farms. Officers explained this is not essen­tial on this type of applic­a­tion. Officers were sat­is­fied that there will be expec­ted pos­it­ive impacts for the farm­land at Dell of Kil­liehuntly. b) Board Mem­ber asked if officers remained of the view that the applic­a­tion com­plied fully with Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 (NPF4) and Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (LDP) policies, there­fore there was no reas­on not to sup­port the applic­a­tion. Officers con­firmed that this was the case. c) Plan­ning Con­vener ques­tioned why the Park Authority’s Agri­cul­tur­al Advisor did not carry out an assess­ment on this applic­a­tion. Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning and Place explained that the Park Author­ity does not require agri­cul­tur­al impact assess­ment in cases like this where the site is not on prime qual­ity agri­cul­tur­al land, and this is not part of the officer’s job role.
3. The applic­ant Steve Blow addressed the com­mit­tee. Kar­en Birkby (for Applic­ant) was present to answer questions.
4. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask for clar­ity. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned the time scale for the Dell of Kil­liehuntly side of the farm­land to come back to agri­cul­tur­al use. Steve Blow explained this

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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could take a few years. Kar­en Birkby explained that Roy­al Soci­ety for the Pro­tec­tion of Birds (RSPB) will work to bring the land back to good con­di­tion for the tenant.

b) A Board Member questioned the depth of the new riverbed. Steve Blow noted the average depth of the new river channel will be 0.5m.
c) A Board Member queried if the applicant had a plan to stop damage to fish in the area. Steve Blow explained that there will be a construction environment management plan. It was also noted there will be regular monitoring carried out.
d) A Board Member questioned if there was a contingency plan in place if this does not work. Steve Blow explained that the research was carried out with Dynamic Rivers, specialists in their field, and they are confident will be successful. The project will be closely observed over the next five years to ensure channels and fish habitats are working. If there are any issues, RSBP will work alongside the tenant to consider alternative options.

1. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a) Board Mem­bers com­men­ted that they found the site vis­it for this applic­a­tion very use­ful to help with the decision pro­cess. b) Board Mem­bers com­men­ted that as the applic­a­tion fully com­plies with the NPF4 and LDP policies and stat­utory aims, they would sup­port the applic­a­tion sub­ject to con­di­tions. c) A Board Mem­ber raised a con­cern that without lower­ing the river­bed, this would not solve the issue of flood­ing and would res­ult in future works hav­ing to be car­ried out. d) Board Mem­bers com­men­ted that they feel that eco­nom­ic and agri­cul­tur­al impact assess­ments should be part of the cri­ter­ia for these types of plan­ning applications.
2. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the officer’s recom­mend­a­tion and sub­ject to the con­di­tions detailed in the report.
3. Board Mem­bers com­men­ted that they feel that eco­nom­ic and agri­cul­tur­al impact assess­ments should be part of the cri­ter­ia for these types of plan­ning applic­a­tions. Sug­ges­tions were made to con­sider intro­du­cing these into LDP and Nation­al Park

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Part­ner­ship Plan (NPPP) policies in the upcom­ing months to ensure all areas are covered.

1. Action Point arising: None. Geva Black­ett, Jack­ie Brier­ton, Pete Cos­grove, Fiona McLean, Steve Mickle­wright, Ann Ross and Derek Ross returned to the meet­ing at 12.00pm

Agenda Item 6

Applic­a­tion for Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2025/0090/DET

Upgrade of track for forestry (in ret­ro­spect) At Land Near Loch Beun, A’Chlaidheimh, Car­rbridge Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve sub­ject to conditions

1. Katie Crerar, Plan­ning Officer, Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment presen­ted the paper to the committee.
2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask the Plan­ning Officer for clar­ity, and the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) There were no points raised.
3. The agent Chris­toph­er Far­quhar and Ewan Reid addressed the committee.
4. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask for clar­ity. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned if 3.5 meters would be wide enough in terms of fire res­cue ser­vices mov­ing in the area if needed. Ewan Reid explained that the track was used extens­ively, and the turn­ing point was used for heli­copters land­ing dur­ing the recent wild­fires, as well as being used thus far for forestry works, there­fore they are con­fid­ent 3.5 meters would be sufficient.
5. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Board Mem­ber noted that they feel it would be bene­fi­cial to have con­sid­er­a­tions for wild­fires as part of all track applic­a­tions going for­ward, for both exist­ing and new tracks as they can be an import­ant part of fight­ing and / or pre­vent­ing the spread of fires. Officers noted the request.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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b) A Board Member queried if there should be passing places as part of the track. It was explained the turning area is sufficient.

1. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the officer’s recom­mend­a­tion and sub­ject to the con­di­tions detailed in the report.
2. Action Point arising: None.

Agenda Item 7

Applic­a­tion for Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2025/0091/DET

Upgrade of track for forestry (in ret­ro­spect) At Land 940M NE of Auch­er­teang, Carrbridge

1. Katie Crerar, Plan­ning Officer, Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment presen­ted the paper to the committee.
2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask the Plan­ning Officer for clar­ity, and the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned the choice of gate, explain­ing they felt it did not look appeal­ing. Plan­ning Officer explained the gate is accept­able in land­scape terms and Ewan Reid added that it meets the required industry stand­ards for this use and has been used across the pro­ject. b) Ques­tions were raised regard­ing the mixed seeds that would be used and if these were nat­ive to Scot­land. Eco­logy Advisor explained this was a Sco­tia seed mix from a Scot­tish com­pany who col­lect seeds mainly from the high­lands. c) A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned if the relo­ca­tion of the ped­es­tri­an gate access should have been included as a con­di­tion. Plan­ning Officer explained the applic­ants have included this as part of their sup­port­ing state­ment, which they will need to adhere to, but it can also be added as a condition.
3. The agent Chris­toph­er Far­quhar and Ewan Reid addressed the committee.
4. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask for clar­ity. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a) There were no comments.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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1. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a) Head of Plan­ning and Chief Plan­ning Officer noted they would add the con­di­tion requir­ing relo­ca­tion of the gate if the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee were minded. Board Mem­bers all agreed.
2. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the officer’s recom­mend­a­tion, sub­ject to the con­di­tions detailed in the report and an addi­tion­al con­di­tion to secure relo­ca­tion of ped­es­tri­an gate.
3. Action Point arising: i. Add the con­di­tion to secure relo­ca­tion of the ped­es­tri­an gate.

Agenda Item 8

AOCB

1. Dav­id Berry, Head of Plan­ning and Chief Plan­ning Officer gave the fol­low­ing update on Coire Mash­ie sub-sta­tion: a) Scot­tish and South­ern Elec­tri­city Net­works (SSEN) have pub­lished a report on the con­sulta­tion they did over sum­mer on sub-sta­tion con­nec­tion options for the Loch Ear­ba pumped hydro stor­age scheme. b) They’ve iden­ti­fied that sub-sta­tion site ​‘Option 1’ will be taken for­ward to next stage of devel­op­ment (option 1 was iden­ti­fied by SSEN as a pre­ferred option in the earli­er con­sulta­tion). c) Form­al pre-app con­sulta­tion now expec­ted Spring 2026 under plan­ning legislation.
2. The Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Con­vener raised a motion to move to a con­fid­en­tial session.
3. The pub­lic busi­ness of the meet­ing con­cluded at 12.46 pm
4. Date of next meet­ing 12 Decem­ber 2025