PLAN­NING

Cairngorms Nation­al Park

Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2020

Non-stat­utory guid­ance: Policy 5 — Landscape

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Con­tents

How to use this guidance Intro­duc­tion and context Land­scape con­sid­er­a­tions in the Park Spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Park Nation­al Scen­ic Areas Wild Land Areas Land­scape character Private roads and ways Assess­ing effects of devel­op­ment on land­scape interests Oth­er sources of information

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How to use this guidance

This non-stat­utory guid­ance forms part of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2020 and applies to all plan­ning applic­a­tions with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan is avail­able via https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​p​l​a​n​ning- devel­op­ment/­loc­al-devel­op­ment-plan- 2020/ and should be read along­side this guidance.

This guid­ance should be used dur­ing the pre­par­a­tion and assess­ment of plan­ning applic­a­tions to ensure that the require­ments of Policy 5 are met.

Intro­duc­tion and context

Policy 5 of the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan’ applies to all devel­op­ment and provides the frame­work for how con­sid­er­a­tion of land­scape interests should be incor­por­ated into devel­op­ment proposals.

* Note, policy word­ing may change fol­low­ing the exam­in­a­tion of the Pro­posed Plan.

Policy 5 – Landscape

5.1 Spe­cial Land­scape Qualities

There will be a pre­sump­tion against any devel­op­ment that does not con­serve or enhance the land­scape char­ac­ter and spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park includ­ing wild­ness and the set­ting of the pro­posed development.

Devel­op­ment that does not com­ple­ment or enhance the land­scape char­ac­ter of the Nation­al Park and the set­ting of the pro­posed devel­op­ment will be per­mit­ted only where:

a) any sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on the spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park are clearly out­weighed by social or eco­nom­ic bene­fits of nation­al import­ance; and

b) all the adverse effects on the set­ting of the pro­posed devel­op­ment have been min­im­ised and mit­ig­ated through appro­pri­ate sit­ing, lay­out, scale, design and con­struc­tion to the sat­is­fac­tion of the plan­ning authority.

5.2 Private Roads and Ways

New private roads and ways in open moor­land¹ areas will not be per­mit­ted unless they:

a) are designed to min­im­ise land­scape and envir­on­ment­al impacts; and

b) form part of a pro­gramme of works includ­ing the remov­al of oth­er exist­ing private roads and ways to deliv­er a net bene­fit for the spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park.

¹ Open Moor­lands are defined here as the land out­side enclosed farm­land, semi-improved grass­land and forests, and includes heath­er moor­land and mont­ane hab­it­ats found on high ground across the Nation­al Park.

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Land­scape considerations

in the Park

The land­scapes of the Nation­al Park are import­ant, so devel­op­ment pro­pos­als should relate to the dis­tinct­ive char­ac­ter­ist­ics and qual­it­ies of the land­scape. All devel­op­ment pro­pos­als must demon­strate how they have avoided adverse effects on the land­scape. This guid­ance provides advice on what needs to be con­sidered and provides links to oth­er use­ful sources of information.

In addi­tion to using this guid­ance, cross ref­er­ence to oth­er Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan policies and their guid­ance (where present) will be required to ensure that rel­ev­ant and often over­lap­ping issues are con­sidered. For example, Policy 3 design and place­mak­ing, Policy 4 nat­ur­al her­it­age and Policy 9 cul­tur­al her­it­age may apply.

All land­scapes with­in the Park have a high sens­it­iv­ity to change, reflect­ing the Nation­al Park des­ig­na­tion as an IUCN

Cat­egory 5 Pro­tec­ted Land­scape². A devel­op­ment does not have to be loc­ated with­in or in close prox­im­ity to a spe­cif­ic land­scape or people to have an effect on them. This is because the land­scape and visu­al effects of devel­op­ment can be exper­i­enced over a large dis­tance. This means that it is import­ant to care­fully con­sider the study area for any pro­posed devel­op­ment with­in which there could be adverse effects.

The main land­scape and visu­al con­sid­er­a­tions in the Park for devel­op­ment pro­pos­als are iden­ti­fied in the fol­low­ing sections.

Spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the

Park

The excep­tion­al qual­ity of the land­scape with­in the Park was a strong influ­ence for its des­ig­na­tion as a Nation­al Park. The spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies (SLQs) of the

² More inform­a­tion on IUCN Cat­egory 5 Pro­tec­ted Land­scapes can be found via https://​www​.iucn​.org/​t​h​e​m​e​/​p​r​o​t​e​cted- areas/­about/­pro­tec­ted-areas-cat­egor­ies/c­at­egory-v- pro­tec­ted-land­scape­seascape.

Park are formed from the com­bin­a­tion of land­scape char­ac­ter and visu­al amen­ity and how these are exper­i­enced by people, which in turn are influ­enced by factors such as land­form, veget­a­tion, rivers, land use, access routes and how people per­ceive and value the land­scapes with­in the Park.

More inform­a­tion about the SLQs can be found via https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​c​a​ring- future/­cairngorms-land­scapes/­cairngorms- spe­cial-land­scape-qual­it­ies/.

Nation­al Scen­ic Areas

Nation­al Scen­ic Areas (NSAs) are defined in legis­la­tion as being areas of out­stand­ing scen­ic value in a nation­al con­text. There are two NSAs wholly with­in the Park (The Cairngorms Moun­tains NSA, Deeside and Loch­nagar NSA shown in fig­ure 1), with one fur­ther NSA just over­lap­ping the edges of the Park at Kil­liecrankie, near Blair Atholl (Loch Tum­mel NSA). Maps of the NSAs and inform­a­tion about them can be found via Site Link https://sitelink.nature.scot/home.

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Wild Land Areas

Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age have described the spe­cial qual­it­ies of NSAs out­with the Park, and sep­ar­ately as SLQs for the Park as a whole. (The spe­cial qual­it­ies of the NSAs with­in the Park were not indi­vidu­ally described, as it was con­sidered that the NSA qual­it­ies were already described by way of the SLQs descrip­tion for the whole Park.) Inform­a­tion on the spe­cial qual­it­ies of both NSAs and the Park can be found via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/safe­guard­ing-pro­tec­ted-areas-and- spe­cies/­pro­tec­ted-areas/n­a­tion­al- des­ig­na­tion­s/n­a­tion­al-scen­ic-areas/nsa- spe­cial-qual­it­ies.

Wild Land Areas (WLAs) were iden­ti­fied by Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age as the most extens­ive areas of wild­ness, meas­ured using four attrib­utes: per­ceived nat­ur­al­ness of the land cov­er; rug­ged­ness of ter­rain; remote­ness from pub­lic roads, fer­ries or rail­way sta­tions; vis­ible lack of build­ings, roads, pylons and oth­er mod­ern artefacts.

Fig­ure I — The Cairngorms Moun­tains NSA and the Deeside and Loch­nagar NSA (shown in pink)

Repro­duced by per­mis­sion of Ord­nance Sur­vey on behalf of HMSO. Crown copy­right and data­base right 2020. All rights reserved. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965 Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority.

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Land­scape character

The qual­it­ies iden­ti­fied by Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age in the WLA descrip­tions also include per­cep­tu­al attrib­utes, such as a sense of sanc­tu­ary, inspir­a­tion of awe, etc.

Two WLAs are found mainly with­in the Park (WLAs 15 Cairngorms and 16 Loch­nagar — Mount Keen), with three more over­lap­ping the edges of the Park (WLAs 14 Ran­noch – Nevis – Mamores – Alder, 19 Braeroy – Glen­shira – Cre­ag Mea­gaidh and 20 Mon­adh­liath) (fig­ure 2). Maps and inform­a­tion about the WLAs, includ­ing their wild­ness qual­it­ies, can be found via https://www.nature.scot/wild- land-area-descrip­tions.

The Nation­al Park is char­ac­ter­ised into dif­fer­ent land­scape char­ac­ter areas. With­in each area, there is a con­sist­ency of key land­scape char­ac­ter­ist­ics influ­enced by aspects such as topo­graphy, land use, his­tor­ic land­scape fea­tures and set­tle­ment, as well as how the land­scape is experienced.

Fig­ure 2 — area of the Park covered by Wild Land Areas (shown in pink)

Repro­duced by per­mis­sion of Ord­nance Sur­vey on behalf of HMSO. Crown copy­right and data­base right 2020. All rights reserved. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965 Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

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Private roads and ways

The term ​‘private roads and ways’ has spe­cif­ic mean­ing in plan­ning³, being any road or path that is not main­tained at the pub­lic expense. How­ever private roads and ways tend to be exper­i­enced by the pub­lic as vehicle tracks (fig­ure 3), so are com­monly referred to as ​‘tracks’ or ​‘hill tracks’. In this guid­ance, the term ​‘tracks’ is used as an inclus­ive term for all ​‘private roads and ways’

Fig­ure 3 — vehicle track with­in the Park

³ See Appendix F of the Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment Plan­ning Cir­cu­lar on Non-Domest­ic Per­mit­ted Devel­op­ment Rights, avail­able via https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning- circular‑2 – 2015-con­sol­id­ated-cir­cu­lar-non- domest­ic-per­mit­ted-devel­op­ment/pages/11/

With­in the glens and straths there is more diversity of land­scapes in a smal­ler area, where­as in the uplands the land­scape tends to be sim­il­ar over much lar­ger areas.

Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age have iden­ti­fied and mapped broad land­scape char­ac­ter types across Scot­land. Inform­a­tion and map­ping is avail­able via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/­land­scape/­land­scape-char­ac­ter- assess­ment/scot­tish-land­scape-char­ac­ter- types-map-and-descrip­tions.

The Park Author­ity has iden­ti­fied and described land­scape char­ac­ter­ist­ics with­in the Park bound­ary, identi­fy­ing smal­ler areas of dis­tinct­ive char­ac­ter­ist­ics. This can help with assess­ment of smal­ler scale devel­op­ment pro­pos­als, and is avail­able via https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​c​a​ring- future/­cairngorms-land­scapes/­land­scape- areas/​.

The con­struc­tion and main­ten­ance of tracks fall under two dif­fer­ent areas of the plan­ning sys­tem: those requir­ing plan­ning per­mis­sion, and those that have per­mit­ted devel­op­ment rights. Most tracks are likely to require full plan­ning permission.

The excep­tions to this are forestry and agri­cul­tur­al tracks, which may be per­mit­ted devel­op­ment but still need to go through the pri­or noti­fic­a­tion pro­cess to enable the rel­ev­ant plan­ning author­ity to advise wheth­er per­mit­ted devel­op­ment applies in the par­tic­u­lar cir­cum­stances, or if plan­ning per­mis­sion is required.

This is because the rules around what is/​is not per­mit­ted devel­op­ment and under what cir­cum­stances are com­plex. For example, most per­mit­ted devel­op­ment rights do not apply in Nation­al Scen­ic Areas⁴.

⁴ See Devel­op­ment Man­age­ment and NSAs, avail­able via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/safe­guard­ing-pro­tec­ted-areas-and- spe­cies/­pro­tec­ted-areas/n­a­tion­al- des­ig­na­tion­s/n­a­tion­al-scen­ic-areas/devel­op­ment- management-and

The Park Author­ity guid­ance on Plan­ning Per­mis­sion and Per­mit­ted Devel­op­ment Rights for Agri­cul­tur­al and Forestry Private Ways⁵ should there­fore be referred to. Regard­less of the pro­cess tracks go through, the devel­op­ment of a track can have land­scape and visu­al effects far great­er than the foot­print of a track itself. This can be reduced by sens­it­ive sit­ing and design, and fol­low­ing good prac­tice dur­ing con­struc­tion and main­ten­ance⁶. How­ever in some loc­a­tions sig­ni­fic­ant adverse land­scape and visu­al effects are unavoid­able and so tracks will not be appro­pri­ate (fig­ure 4). To avoid issues at a later stage, advice on wheth­er plan­ning or per­mit­ted devel­op­ment applies and the poten­tial for adverse effects should be sought from the rel­ev­ant plan­ning author­ity at the earli­est stage for both new tracks and pro­posed upgrades to exist­ing tracks.

⁵ https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/wp- content/​uploads/​2019/​10/​101019PANForestryandA griculturalTracksFINAL.pdf ⁶ See Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age advice on Con­struc­ted Tracks in the Scot­tish Uplands https://www.nature.scot/constructed-tracks- scot­tish-uplands

Fig­ure 4 — upland and moor­land clas­si­fic­a­tions cov­er­ing the Park (shown in pink). The effect of

Policy 5.2 is that there will be a pre­sump­tion against new hill tracks in these areas. Repro­duced by per­mis­sion of Ord­nance Sur­vey on behalf of HMSO. Crown copy­right and data­base right

1. All rights reserved. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965 Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

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Assess­ing effects of

devel­op­ment on land­scape interests

The assess­ment of land­scape and visu­al impacts should fol­low the pro­cess and incor­por­ate the mit­ig­a­tion hier­archy shown in fig­ure 5 (over­leaf) from the out­set. This should enable devel­op­ment to be designed to avoid, min­im­ise and mit­ig­ate adverse effects while optim­ising opportunities.

Details of the assess­ments car­ried out and how they have been used to inform the sit­ing and design of the pro­posed devel­op­ment should be sub­mit­ted with plan­ning applic­a­tions as sup­port­ing inform­a­tion. Assess­ments should include con­sid­er­a­tion of effects dur­ing con­struc­tion and oper­a­tion over the life cycle of the pro­posed devel­op­ment, as well as wheth­er there could be cumu­lat­ive effects with oth­er devel­op­ment (exist­ing and proposed).

Table I (shown after fig­ure 5) iden­ti­fies dif­fer­ent types of assess­ment that may be

required to sup­port devel­op­ment pro­pos­als in the Park. The num­ber and level of assessment(s) will vary depend­ing on the type of devel­op­ment pro­posed and the sens­it­iv­it­ies of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site and sur­round­ing area.

Table 2 provides ref­er­ences and links to sources of guid­ance and inform­a­tion cur­rent at the time of pub­lic­a­tion. Many of these sources are provided by oth­er organ­isa­tions so will be sub­ject to change over time. Read­ers should ensure that they use the most up to date pub­lished ver­sion. If in doubt, advice should be sought from the pub­lish­er and/​or rel­ev­ant plan­ning authority.

Some devel­op­ment pro­pos­als may require form­al detailed Land­scape and Visu­al Impact Assess­ment (LVIA) as part of an Envir­on­ment­al Impact Assess­ment⁷, while oth­ers may only require some of the

⁷ More inform­a­tion about Envir­on­ment­al Impact Assess­ment can be found via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/­plan­ning-and-devel­op­ment/en­vir­on­ment­al- assess­ment/en­vir­on­ment­al-impact-assess­ment.

assess­ments iden­ti­fied in Table 1. There­fore early engage­ment with the rel­ev­ant plan­ning author­ity is strongly recom­men­ded so that the scope and type(s) of land­scape assess­ment can be agreed at the earli­est stage for each pro­posed development.

Oth­er sources of

inform­a­tion

In addi­tion to the sources lis­ted in Table 2, the fol­low­ing are of relevance:

• Place­mak­ing: guid­ance on place­mak­ing in the Park can be found via link to be added once published

• Dark skies: inform­a­tion on the Tomin­toul and Glen­liv­et Dark Skies Park can be found via https://darkskies.glenlivet- cairngorms​.co​.uk/. Advice on devel­op­ment in the dark skies area can be found via link to be added once published

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Fig­ure 5 — stand­ard land­scape assess­ment and design pro­cess, incor­por­at­ing the mit­ig­a­tion hierarchy

Table I sources of guid­ance and inform­a­tion for dif­fer­ent steps in the land­scape assess­ment and design pro­cess (links and ref­er­ences are provided in Table 2)

Table 2 – links and ref­er­ences for the guid­ance referred to in Table I

Guid­ance name	Ref­er­ence	Link
Guidelines for Land­scape and Visu­al Impact Assess­ment (GLVIA)	Land­scape Insti­tute and Insti­tute of Envir­on­ment­al Man­age­ment and Assess­ment (2013) Guidelines for Land­scape and Visu­al Impact Assess­ment. 3rd ed. Abing­don, Routledge.	https://​www​.land​scapein​sti​tute​.org/​t​e​c​h​n​i​c​a​l​/​g​l​v​i​a​3​-​p​anel/
Cumu­lat­ive LVIA	Gen­er­al: GLVIA as above.	Gen­er­al: as above.
	For wind farms: Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2012) Guid­ance Assess­ing the cumu­lat­ive impact of onshore wind energy developments.	For wind farms: https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/planning-and-development/advice-planners-and-developers/renewable-energy-development/onshore-wind-energy/advice-wind-farm
NSA and Park SLQ descriptions	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2010) The Spe­cial Qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Scen­ic Areas: Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age Com­mis­sioned Report No. 374	Both avail­able via: https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/safeguarding-protected-areas-and-species/protected-areas/national-designations/national-scenic-areas/nsa-special-qualities
	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and CNPA (2010) The spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age Com­mis­sioned Report No 375
Effects on NSA and Park SLQS	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2018) Guid­ance for assess­ing the effects on spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies. cur­rently in draft	link to be added once published
WLA descrip­tions	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2017) Wild Land Area Descrip­tions: 14 Ran­noch – Nevis – Mamores – Alder, 15 Cairngorms; and 16 Loch­nagar – Mount Keen, 19 Braeroy – Glen­shira – Cre­ag Mea­gaidh and 20 Monadhliath	https://www.nature.scot/wild-land-area-descriptions
Effects on WLAS	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2017) Assess­ing impacts on Wild Land Areas: Tech­nic­al guidance	https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/landscape/landscape-policy-and-guidance/assessing-impacts-wild-land-areas-draft-guidance
Land­scape Char­ac­ter Type (LCT)/area descriptions	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2019) land­scape char­ac­ter types map­ping and information	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age LCT descrip­tions: https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/landscape/landscape-character-assessment/scottish-landscape-character-types-map-and-descriptions
	CNPA land­scape char­ac­ter areas map­ping and information	CNPA land­scape char­ac­ter area descrip­tions: https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​c​a​r​i​n​g​-​f​u​t​u​r​e​/​c​a​i​r​n​g​o​r​m​s​-​l​a​n​d​s​c​a​p​e​s​/​l​a​n​d​s​c​a​p​e​-​a​reas/

Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work (NPF) and Scot­tish Plan­ning Policy (SPP)	Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment (2014) Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work and Scot­tish Plan­ning Policy	https://www.gov.scot/policies/planning-architecture/
Cre­at­ing Places	Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment (2013) Cre­at­ing Places: a policy state­ment on archi­tec­ture and place for Scotland	https://www.gov.scot/publications/creating-places-policy-statement-architecture-place-scotland/
Design state­ments	Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment (2003) Pan 68: Design Statements.	https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-advice-note-68-design-statements/
Res­id­en­tial visu­al amen­ity assess­ment (RVAA)	Land­scape Insti­tute (2019) Res­id­en­tial Visu­al Amen­ity Assess­ment (RVAA) Tech­nic­al Guid­ance Note 2⁄19	https://​www​.land​scapein​sti​tute​.org/​t​e​c​h​n​i​c​a​l​-​r​e​s​o​u​r​c​e​/​rvaa/
Tracks	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2015) Con­struc­ted tracks in the Scot­tish uplands. 2nd ed.	https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/planning-and-development/advice-planners-and-developers/planning-and-development-good-practice-construction
SuDS	Woods Bal­lard et al. (2015) The SuDS Manu­al (C697). CIRIA	CIRIA: https://​www​.ciria​.org/​I​t​e​m​D​e​t​a​i​l​?​i​P​r​o​d​u​c​t​C​o​d​e​=​C​7​5​3​F​&​C​a​t​e​g​o​r​y​=​F​R​E​EPUBS
	Land­scape Insti­tute (2014) Man­age­ment and Main­ten­ance of Sus­tain­able Drain­age Sys­tems (SuDS) Landscapes	Land­scape Insti­tute: https://​www​.land​scapein​sti​tute​.org/​t​e​c​h​n​i​c​a​l​-​r​e​s​o​u​r​c​e​/​s​u​s​t​a​i​n​a​b​l​e​-​d​r​a​i​n​a​g​e​-​s​y​s​tems/
Wind farms	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2017) Sit­ing and design­ing wind farms in the land­scape (ver­sion 3a)	https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/planning-and-development/advice-planners-and-developers/renewable-energy-development/onshore-wind-energy/wind-farm-impacts
Visu­al­isa­tions	Land­scape Insti­tute (2019) Visu­al rep­res­ent­a­tion of devel­op­ment proposals	Land­scape Insti­tute: https://​www​.land​scapein​sti​tute​.org/​v​i​s​u​a​l​i​s​a​tion/
	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (2017) Visu­al rep­res­ent­a­tion of wind farms	Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age: https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/planning-and-development/advice-planners-and-developers/renewable-energy-development/onshore-wind-energy/wind-farm-impacts

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Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2020 Non-stat­utory guid­ance Policy 5 – Landscape

This doc­u­ment is avail­able in large print on request. Please con­tact the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity on 01479 873535. It is also avail­able to view at www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

Pub­lished by Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own-on-Spey PH26 3HG

Email: planning@​cairngorms.​co.​uk Tel: 01479 873535 Fax: 01479 873527

www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

© CNPA 2020. All rights reserved.