ApprovedPlanningMinutesV10 21/02/26

APPROVED COM­MIT­TEE MINUTES

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

APPROVED MINUTES OF THE PLAN­NING COM­MIT­TEE held via Video Con­fer­ence on 26^th Feb­ru­ary 2021 at 10am

Mem­bers Present:

Dr Gaen­er Rodger (Con­vener) Peter Argyle (Deputy Con­vener) Car­o­lyn Cad­dick Deirdre Fal­con­er Pippa Had­ley Janet Hunter John Kirk John Lath­am Anne Rae Mac­don­ald Elean­or Mack­in­tosh Douglas McAdam Xan­der McDade Wil­lie McK­enna Ian McLar­en Dr Fiona McLean Wil­li­am Mun­ro Derek Ross Judith Webb

In Attend­ance:

Gav­in Miles, Head of Plan­ning and Com­munit­ies Stephanie Wade, Plan­ning Officer, Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment Dee Straw, Plan­ning Admin­is­trat­or and Sys­tems Officer, Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment Peter Fer­guson, Harp­er McLeod LLP

Apo­lo­gies: Geva Blackett

Agenda Items I & 2: Wel­come & Apologies

1. The Con­vener wel­comed all present and thanked Elean­or Mack­in­tosh as pre­vi­ous Con­vener and all her hard work while on the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee. Apo­lo­gies were noted.

APPROVED COM­MIT­TEE MINUTES

Agenda Item 3: Minutes & Mat­ters Arising from the Pre­vi­ous Meeting

1. The minutes of the pre­vi­ous meet­ing, I1 Decem­ber 2020, held by video con­fer­en­cing were approved with no amendments.

2. The Con­vener provided an updated on the actions arising from the minutes of || Decem­ber 2020:

a) At Para 5(i): Closed – Head of Plan­ning wrote to Cairngorm Moun­tain Scot­land Ltd

1. There were no mat­ters arising.

Agenda Item 4: Declar­a­tion of Interest by Mem­bers on Items Appear­ing on the Agenda

1. Deirdre Fal­con­er declared a Dir­ect Interest in Items 5 and 6. Reas­on: Sits on Kin­craig and Vicin­ity Com­munity Coun­cil who had pre­vi­ously dis­cussed this dur­ing the ori­gin­al application.

2. John Kirk declared an Indir­ect Interest in Items 5 and 6. Reas­on: Through his busi­ness, John Kirk Con­tracts, some­times car­ries out works at Bal­avil Farm.

3. Janet Hunter declared an Indir­ect Interest in Item 7. Reas­on: On occa­sion, some­times works at Glen­shee Ski Centre.

4. Deirdre Fal­con­er and John Kirk left the room for the dur­a­tion of Items 5 and 6.

Agenda Item 5: Applic­a­tion for Mat­ters Spe­cified in Con­di­tions 2020/0077/MSC (20/00834/MSC) Erec­tion of farm build­ings, asso­ci­ated works and form­a­tion of access At Land 100MM East of Lyn­o­voan, Lyn­chat, Kin­gussie Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve Sub­ject to Conditions

1. The Con­vener informed the Com­mit­tee that Andrew Bayne (Agent) and Gary Culpan (Applic­ant) were present to answer questions.

2. Stephanie Wade, Plan­ning Officer presen­ted the paper to the Committee.

APPROVED COM­MIT­TEE MINUTES

1. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A mem­ber quer­ied why the applic­a­tion under item 6 had not reques­ted the same 7 year dur­a­tion as applic­a­tion under agenda item 7. It was con­firmed that the works for this applic­a­tion would not be affected by the A9 in the same way and could be imple­men­ted with­in the nor­mal three-year dur­a­tion of plan­ning permission.

2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report, the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A mem­ber com­men­ted this is a very detailed report and assess­ment and they fully sup­por­ted the application.

3. The Com­mit­tee agreed to approve the applic­a­tion as per the Officer’s recommendation.

4. Action Point arising: None.

Agenda Item 6: Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2020/0236/DET (20/03724/FUL) Con­ver­sion of farm build­ings to vis­it­or facil­it­ies and com­mer­cial use, exten­sions, form­a­tion of café and park­ing (renew­al of plan­ning per­mis­sion 2016/0153/DET) And Lis­ted Build­ing Con­sent 2020/0241/LBC (20/03726/LBC) Con­ver­sion of farm build­ings to vis­it­or facil­it­ies and com­mer­cial use, exten­sions, form­a­tion of café and park­ing (renew­al of plan­ning per­mis­sion 2016/0143/LBC Both at Stead­ing, Bal­avil Mains Farm­house, Kin­gussie Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve Sub­ject to Con­di­tions and Direction

1. Mem­bers Deirdre Fal­con­er and John Kirk remained out of the room.

2. The Con­vener informed the Com­mit­tee that Andrew Bayne (Agent) and Gary Culpan (Applic­ant) were present to answer questions.

3. Stephanie Wade, Plan­ning Officer presen­ted the paper to the Committee.

4. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Mem­ber quer­ied the pro­posed dur­a­tion of plan­ning per­mis­sion as 7 years. It was con­firmed that plan­ning author­it­ies can extend the dur­a­tion of plan­ning per­mis­sion and that the jus­ti­fic­a­tion in this case was linked to the delivery

APPROVED COM­MIT­TEE MINUTES pro­gramme for the A9. The Agent, Andrew Bayne, con­firmed the use of a sim­il­ar dir­ec­tion related to devel­op­ment beside a Trunk road at Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire.

1. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report, the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Mem­ber com­men­ted this was the second time the Com­mit­tee were con­sid­er­ing the applic­a­tion. The access was the pre­vi­ous con­cern, but the Mem­ber was con­fid­ent this would be dealt with by Trans­port Scot­land. This is a high qual­ity devel­op­ment, would enhance the area and would be com­pli­ment­ary to loc­al busi­nesses. b) A Mem­ber com­men­ted this is a good scheme and would sup­port the vis­it­or eco­nomy of the area.

2. The Com­mit­tee agreed to approve the applic­a­tion as per the Officer’s recom­mend­a­tion sub­ject to the con­di­tions and the dir­ec­tion stated in the report.

3. Action Point arising: None.

4. Deirdre Fal­con­er and John Kirk returned to the meeting.

5. The Con­vener thanked the Agent, Andrew Bayne and the Applic­ant, Gary Culpan. They left the room.

6. Janet Hunter left the room for the dur­a­tion of Item 7.

Agenda Item 7: Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2020/0254/DET (APP/2020/2089) Erec­tion of Zip­wire Plat­forms and Land­ing Plat­forms and Install­a­tion of 3 Double Zip­wires At Glen­shee Ski Centre, Brae­mar, Aber­deen­shire, AB35 5XU Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve Sub­ject to Conditions

1. The Con­vener informed the Com­mit­tee that Dav­id Far­quhar­son (Applic­ant) was present to address the Com­mit­tee and to answer any questions.

2. Gav­in Miles, Head of Plan­ning and Com­munit­ies, presen­ted the paper to the Committee.

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

APPROVED COM­MIT­TEE MINUTES a) A Mem­ber voiced ini­tial con­cerns and lack of inform­a­tion on bird strike. Head of Plan­ning noted there was little evid­ence of bird strike hav­ing a sig­ni­fic­ant impact on pop­u­la­tions of birds at ski areas so was not con­sidered to be sig­ni­fic­ant issue. b) A Mem­ber quer­ied if a con­di­tion could be added, request­ing record­ing of inform­a­tion on bird strike. Head of Plan­ning con­firmed this could be done if necessary.

1. Dav­id Far­quhar­son addressed the committee.

2. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask points of clar­ity, the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Mem­ber quer­ied the 5 or 6 new employ­ees and would they be year round. The applic­ant con­firmed they would be year round, and under­take oth­er work with­in the ski dur­ing the winter months. b) A Mem­ber quer­ied if this devel­op­ment would be out of oper­a­tion dur­ing the winter, then resumed in the spring. This was con­firmed by the applic­ant. c) A Mem­ber quer­ied how cus­tom­ers would get from the road­side to the zip­wire. The applic­ant con­firmed they would use the exist­ing chairlift.

3. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report, the fol­low­ing points were raised: a) A Mem­ber stated sus­tain­ab­il­ity is very import­ant for tour­ism, espe­cially in this part of Aber­deen­shire. b) A Mem­ber quer­ied if the infra­struc­ture was out of use for say 5 years, could it be decom­mis­sioned by way of a con­di­tion being added? Head of Plan­ning con­firmed this should be done but sug­ges­ted that a peri­od of three years was more appro­pri­ate. c) A Mem­ber stated this applic­a­tion was indeed an innov­at­ive diver­si­fic­a­tion, a good use of the uplift, viable and a good source of addi­tion­al employ­ment, all year round. Very sup­port­ive and in agree­ment in regards the addi­tion of the decom­mis­sion­ing con­di­tion. d) A dis­cus­sion on poten­tial bird strike data and wheth­er it would affect the devel­op­ment, bear­ing in mind that an inform­at­ive note was already pro­posed to high­light NatureScot’s best prac­tice advice on devel­op­ments with poten­tial bird strike. Mem­bers agreed that a fur­ther con­di­tion was not neces­sary and that the advis­ory note pro­posed would be suf­fi­cient to deal with the issue. e) The Con­vener agreed with Mem­bers in terms of tour­ism, diver­si­fic­a­tion and giv­ing sup­port to the applic­a­tion. Agree­ing an advis­ory in terms of the bird strike is an appro­pri­ate way to address that point.

4. Peter Fer­guson, Harp­er McLeod LLP, cla­ri­fied in regards to non-oper­a­tion, a time peri­od could be added, stat­ing for example sol­ar pro­ject will con­tain such a

APPROVED COM­MIT­TEE MINUTES 32. con­di­tions. Head of Plan­ning recom­men­ded a peri­od of 3 years would be a reas­on­able peri­od. The Com­mit­tee agreed to approve the applic­a­tion as per the Officer’s recom­mend­a­tion sub­ject to the con­di­tions stated in the report and the addi­tion of a fur­ther con­di­tion on decom­mis­sion­ing if not used in 3 years and an inform­at­ive on bird strike.

1. Action Point arising: None.

2. Janet Hunter returned to the room.

Agenda Item 8: AOB

1. Gav­in Miles repor­ted on the fol­low­ing mat­ters: a) Post Com­mit­tee applic­a­tion Spey House Phase 2, Aviemore, is almost con­cluded. Delay in pay­ing the developer con­tri­bu­tion remained a delay in secur­ing the final con­tract for the devel­op­ment with afford­able hous­ing pro­viders, but 50% of the site was now covered by a con­tract. Oncet he Developer Con­tri­bu­tion for edu­ca­tion pro­vi­sion was provided, the Decision Notice would be issued. b) Post Com­mit­tee applic­a­tion Former Filling Sta­tion, Aviemore – there has been a change of own­er­ship on site, this had delayed the con­clud­ing of the Sec­tion 75. This will be signed very soon, there­after the Decision Notice would be issued. c) The Scot­tish Government’s pro­pos­als for licen­cing of short term let prop­er­ties has been delayed until after Scot­tish elec­tion. d) Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment has laid an exten­sion to the emer­gency Cov­id legis­la­tion that extends the dur­a­tion of plan­ning per­mis­sion. It has been pro­posed that per­mis­sion that would oth­er­wise expire before 30 Septem­ber 2021 will now run to 31 March 2022. e) The Mine­craft engage­ment pro­ject, led by Dan Har­ris, involving the Cairngorms Youth Action Team, was being covered in the press. The Con­vener sug­ges­ted that the Youth Action Team could give a talk to the Com­mit­tee in future on their use of it.

2. A Mem­ber enquired if there was any update on the LDP. Head of Plan­ning, Gav­in Miles stated Scot­tish Min­is­ters con­firmed we could adopt the LDP after mak­ing changes. These changes being to give text explain­ing on the set­tle­ment maps includ­ing the A9, to go to the Trans­port Scot­land site to see the detail. Once the changes have been made, the LDP will be taken back to Com­mit­tee on 26 March

APPROVED COM­MIT­TEE MINUTES

1. Head of Plan­ning, Gav­in Miles, to recir­cu­late the email to mem­bers giv­ing the Dir­ec­tion from Scot­tish Ministers.

2. The Deputy Con­vener informed Mem­bers that Jane Angus, a reg­u­lar vis­it­or to Plan­ning Com­mit­tee meet­ings in Bal­later, had sadly passed away. She had volun­teered in sup­port the com­munity extens­ively and over a long peri­od of time and he thought it was appro­pri­ate to men­tion and give con­dol­ences to the family.

3. Action Points arising: None.

Agenda Item 9: Date of Next Meeting

1. Fri­day 26 March 2021 at 10am via video/​telephone conference.

2. The pub­lic busi­ness of the meet­ing con­cluded at 11.25am.