Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Item 5 Appendix 4a 24 April 2026 Page 1 of 3

Agenda item 5

Appendix 4a

2025/0167/DET

Rep­res­ent­a­tion – objection

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Com­ments for Plan­ning Applic­a­tion 2025/0167/DET

Applic­a­tion Summary

Applic­a­tion Num­ber: 2025/0167/DET Address: Land 465M NW Of Golden Acre Glen Road New­ton­more Pro­pos­al: Con­struc­tion of forestry extrac­tion track, track upgrad­ing Case Officer: Kath­er­ine Donnachie

Cus­tom­er Details

Name: Mr George Allan Address: [Address redacted]

Com­ment Details

Com­menter Type: Mem­ber of Pub­lic Stance: Cus­tom­er objects to the Plan­ning Applic­a­tion Com­ment Reas­ons: Com­ment: I am writ­ing on behalf of the North East Moun­tain Trust (NEMT). NEMT rep­res­ents the interests of hill-goers and those who enjoy vis­it­ing remoter areas. NEMT mem­ber­ship, com­pris­ing twelve hill­walk­ing and climb­ing clubs along with indi­vidu­al mem­bers, totals around 1000 people. NEMT is a Scot­tish Char­ity SCIO 008783. NEMT objects to the applic­a­tion as we think that more inform­a­tion is needed to allow the CNPA and inter­ested mem­bers of the pub­lic to assess the implic­a­tions of the pro­posed track work. A Sup­port­ing State­ment is needed to jus­ti­fy why the track as described is needed. Why can’t tim­ber from forestry to the west side of the vil­lage be trans­por­ted down the Glen Road using small sized lor­ries and tim­ber from the north be trans­por­ted south down the pro­posed upgraded track or via Bal­lachroan? These arrange­ments would remove the need for the new sec­tion of track run­ning par­al­lel and just to the north of the birch woods. This new sec­tion of track will have sig­ni­fic­ant neg­at­ive land­scape effects. There needs to be clar­ity regard­ing the width of the new and upgraded sec­tions. Giv­en the land­scape implic­a­tions, would it be pos­sible for this to be less than stand­ard forestry width or reduced once felling is com­plete? It is best prac­tice for all tracks in open moor­land to have a cent­ral veget­a­tion strip to reduce their visu­al impacts and NEMT asks the Park to include this as a con­di­tion if all, or part, of the applic­a­tion is approved. The pos­sible need for bor­row pits is men­tioned. Inform­a­tion about their pro­posed loc­a­tions is needed, along with fuller details about their res­tor­a­tion. NEMT is pleased that the applic­a­tion includes remov­al of a sec­tion of exist­ing track; NEMT strongly sup­ports the Park’s policy regard­ing this type of mit­ig­a­tion in respect of new tracks. How­ever, a meth­od state­ment is needed lay­ing out how this will be car­ried out and the times­cale for com­ple­tion. NEMT thinks that a times­cale for com­ple­tion should be a con­di­tion if the applic­a­tion is approved. The track would pass through areas well known for sup­port­ing a range of bird life and the implic­a­tions of this need to be evaluated.