Draft minutes of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee meeting

Draft Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Minutes 23 Janu­ary 2026

Held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity office, Grant­own-on-Spey Hybrid 23 Janu­ary 2026 at 11.00am

Present in person

• Rus­sell Jones (Con­vener)
• Sandy Brem­ner
• Dr Peter Cosgrove
• John Kirk
• Lauren Mac­Cal­lum
• Duncan Miller
• Jack­ie Brierton
• Kenny Deans
• Bill Lob­ban
• Elean­or Mackintosh

Vir­tu­al

• Paul Gibb (Deputy Convener)
• Dr Han­nah Grist
• Dr Fiona McLean
• Ann Ross
• Michael Wil­li­am­son
• Angus McNicol, Inver­cauld Estate
• Ian McLar­en
• Steve Mickle­wright
• Derek Ross
• Peter Fer­guson, Harp­er MacLeod LLP

Apo­lo­gies

• Geva Black­ett

In Attend­ance

• Gav­in Miles, Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning and Place
• Dav­id Berry, Head of Plan­ning and Chief Plan­ning Officer
• Peter Fer­guson, Harp­er MacLeod LLP
• Emma Bryce, Plan­ning Man­ager (Devel­op­ment Manager)
• Katie Crerar, Plan­ning Officer, (Devel­op­ment Management)
• Emma Green­lees, Plan­ning Sys­tems Support
• Dan Har­ris, Plan­ning Man­ager (For­ward Plan­ning and Ser­vice Improvement)
• Kar­en John­stone, Clerk to the Board

Agenda Item 1

Wel­come and apologies

1. The Plan­ning Con­vener wel­comed all present includ­ing mem­bers of the pub­lic and apo­lo­gies were noted.

Agenda Items 2 and 3

Approv­al of minutes of pre­vi­ous meet­ings and Mat­ters arising

1. The minutes of the pre­vi­ous meet­ing on 12 Decem­ber 2025 held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, Grant­own-on-Spey, were approved with no amendments.
2. There were no mat­ters arising.

Agenda Item 4

Declar­a­tions of interest

1. There were no declar­a­tions of interest.

Agenda Item 5

Applic­a­tion for Detailed Plan­ning Per­mis­sion 2025/0242/DET

Change of use of land to form exten­sion to exist­ing cara­van site includ­ing form­a­tion of 18 motorhome pitches and 6 stat­ic cara­van pitches, tim­ber board­walk to con­nect with exist­ing path and asso­ci­ated works and land­scap­ing At Inver­cauld Cara­van Park, Glen­shee Road, Brae­mar, AB35 5YQ Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve sub­ject to conditions

1. Katie Crerar, Plan­ning Officer 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 raised the ques­tion if there would be suf­fi­cient capa­city of waste dis­pos­al for tour­ing camper­vans and cara­vans with addi­tion­al pitches. Plan­ning Officer explained they under­stood there is capa­city in the exist­ing cara­van site. b. A Board Mem­ber sug­ges­ted adding a con­di­tion to ensure the cara­vans are only used as vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion, as this has been done in the past. Plan­ning Officer explained that this was not con­sidered in this instance as the devel­op­ment site is with­in an exist­ing oper­a­tion­al cara­van park, but this could be added if Mem­bers were minded to. c. A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned if there were char­ging facil­it­ies for elec­tric vehicles included in the applic­a­tion. Plan­ning Officer stated there was not. d. A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned the illus­tra­tions on the cab­ins, not­ing they do not appear to have dis­abled access. Plan­ning Officer explained none of the pro­posed cara­vans have dis­abled access, how­ever there is one fog cab­in with­in the exist­ing Cara­van Park that has dis­abled access. It was also noted that there are exist­ing dis­abled facil­it­ies in the Cara­van Park. e. A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned if the board walk was covered under the pre-exist­ing fire reg­u­la­tions. Plan­ning Officer con­firmed it would be covered.
3. The applic­ant Mr Angus McNicol addressed the Committee.

4. The Com­mit­tee were invited to ask for clar­ity. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a. A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned if there was an option to include dis­abled access cara­vans / pods in the future. Angus McNicol explained the exist­ing fog pod does not get used much by dis­abled users, there­fore the addi­tion­al cost to have dis­abled access cara­vans / pods was not jus­ti­fied by the demand. How­ever, there are exist­ing on-site dis­abled facil­it­ies and if demand was to increase in the future, this could be con­sidered. b. A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned the pro­pos­al to plant aspen and if the long-term impact has been con­sidered. Angus McNicol explained they have a forestry depart­ment who will help with the plan­ning and man­aging of the trees, not­ing there is aspen on the estate already, and all tree plant­ing will be rab­bit fenced. c. A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned if there was suf­fi­cient capa­city of waste dis­pos­al for tour­ing camper­vans and cara­vans with addi­tion­al pitches. Angus McNicol con­firmed there is, and Scot­tish Water has con­firmed there is capa­city for both in the area. d. A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned the decision not to include char­ging facil­it­ies for elec­tric vehicles in the applic­a­tion. Angus McNicol explained the cara­van park has elec­tric bol­lards with adapters that can be used to charge elec­tric vehicles. Cur­rently 90 on the estate with a fur­ther 18 to be added, there­fore suf­fi­cient facil­it­ies are already available.

5. The Plan­ning officer was invited to come back on points raised dur­ing the speak­ers’ present­a­tions: a. There were no comments.

6. The Com­mit­tee were invited to dis­cuss the report. The fol­low­ing points were raised: a. Board Mem­bers noted that the applic­a­tion was well thought out, includ­ing lots of detail, espe­cially from an eco­lo­gic­al and biod­iversity per­spect­ive. It was also noted that with­in a com­munity reli­ant on tour­ism, this would help to encour­age a mix of tour­ists. It was also noted, with a hous­ing short­age, this would be bene­fi­cial for the area. b. Dis­cus­sions were had around adding a res­id­ency clause as a con­di­tion, giv­en the short­age of accom­mod­a­tion in the area for res­id­ents and it would be bene­fi­cial to state that the cara­vans are not suit­able for full time res­id­ency. Plan­ning Officer explained an example con­di­tion for a hol­i­day unit and Mem­bers agreed to this con­di­tion being added.

7. The Com­mit­tee approved the applic­a­tion as per the officer’s recom­mend­a­tion, sub­ject to the con­di­tions detailed in the report with the addi­tion­al con­di­tion of a res­id­ency clause.

8. Action Point arising: a. Add the addi­tion­al res­id­ency clause as a condition.

Bill Lob­ban joined the meet­ing 11.41am

Agenda Item 6

AOCB

1. Dav­id Berry, Head of Plan­ning and Chief Plan­ning Officer updated the Com­mit­tee on a pre­vi­ous applic­a­tion — Laurel Bank, Aviemore (2023/0007/DET) — plan­ning per­mis­sion has now been issued by Scot­tish Ministers.

The Com­mit­tee Con­vener raised a motion to move to a con­fid­en­tial session.

Date of next meeting

1. The pub­lic busi­ness of the meet­ing con­cluded at 11.43am
2. Date of next meet­ing 13 March 2026