Item 5 - River Dee Committee Report 20250010 DET

Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 1 of 16

Com­mit­tee report

Devel­op­ment proposed: Upper Dee River and flood­plain res­tor­a­tion at site at the River Dee from No 1446 9203 up to the con­flu­ence with Quoi­ch Water at No 1226 9068, Aberdeenshire

Ref­er­ence: 2025/0010/DET

Applic­ant: Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Date called-in: 13 Janu­ary 2025

Recom­mend­a­tion: Approv­al, sub­ject to conditions

Case officer: Colin Bry­ans, Seni­or Plan­ning Officer Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 2 of 16 [Map of applic­a­tion area] Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 3 of 16

Site descrip­tion, pro­pos­al and history

Site descrip­tion

1. The applic­a­tion site is loc­ated upstream of the vil­lage of Brae­mar, extend­ing west­wards to the con­flu­ence of the Quoi­ch Water with the River Dee. The site is bound to the south by the River Dee and to the north by the Allan­more Track. The site com­prises the River Dee chan­nel, its banks and an area of land, the major­ity of which con­sti­tutes low lying wet­land / wet ground with a smal­ler por­tion, loc­ated on high­er ground, cur­rently under agri­cul­tur­al use for grazing.

2. The applic­a­tion site is loc­ated with­in the East­ern Cairngorms Site of Spe­cial Sci­entif­ic Interest (SSSI), Mar Lodge Estate Nation­al Nature Reserve (NNR), River Dee Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion (SAC), and the Cairngorms Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Area (SPA).

Pro­pos­al

1. The draw­ings and doc­u­ments asso­ci­ated with this applic­a­tion are lis­ted below and are avail­able on the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity web­site unless noted oth­er­wise: http://​www​.eplan​ningcnpa​.co​.uk/​o​n​line- applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=S2H06USI0 CP00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on plan*	Date received
Plan – Upper Dee loc­a­tion plan	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee East	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan — Upper Dee West	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee map A	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee map B	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee map C	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee map D	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee map E	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee map F	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Cairngorms
Item 5 Plan­ning Committee
Nation­al Park Authority
27 June 2025
Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’
Mhon­aidh Ruaidh
Page 4 of 16

Plan – Upper Dee map G	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan – Upper Dee plan map	n/​a	n/​a	18/03/25
Plan — Sec­tions 1	3	10/09/24	10/01/25
Plan — Sec­tions 1	3	10/09/24	10/01/25
Plan – Cut and fill analysis	3	10/09/24	10/01/25
Plan – Large wood structures	3	10/09/24	10/01/25

*Where no spe­cif­ic day of month has been provided on the plan, the sys­tem defaults to the first of the month.

1. The sec­tion of the River Dee sub­ject to this applic­a­tion has been his­tor­ic­ally altered with embank­ments and bank pro­tec­tion put in from the 1700s onwards to pro­tect graz­ing and crop­ping. These his­tor­ic inter­ven­tions have led to degrad­a­tion and sim­pli­fic­a­tion of the river sys­tem with less nat­ur­al river pro­cesses, less river- flood­plain con­nectiv­ity and less hab­it­at variety.

2. The pro­posed devel­op­ment aims to reverse the impacts of these his­tor­ic­al modi­fic­a­tions and includes the fol­low­ing elements:

   α) Riverb­ank armour remov­al to allow the river to adjust its course nat­ur­ally. b) Flood­plain embank­ment remov­al to allow the river and flood­plain to become bet­ter con­nec­ted and to facil­it­ate the stor­age of water. c) Install­a­tion of large wood struc­tures to drive future chan­nel dynam­ism and hab­it­at cre­ation. d) Cre­ation of a series of ​“scrapes”, of vari­able depths, to cre­ate a wider wet­land hab­it­at. e) Ripari­an wood­land planting.

His­tory

1. APP/2015/2336: Remov­al of Waste and Re-Pro­fil­ing of 90m of Riverb­ank at River Dee, Mar Lodge Estate Car Bank, Aber­deen­shire. Gran­ted 18 Septem­ber 2015.

2. APP/2004/4255: Pri­or approv­al for the remov­al of Man-Made Struc­tures, Con­struc­tion of Silt Traps, Install­a­tion of Stone Riffles. Approved 28 June 2005. Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 5 of 16

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Appraisal

1. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al (HRA) has been under­taken which is attached as an Appendix. This apprais­al con­sidered that there may be likely to be a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the European site. The European site in this case is the River Dee SAC which is des­ig­nated for otter, Atlantic sal­mon and fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel interests. Con­sequently, an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the implic­a­tions for the European site in view of the con­ser­va­tion object­ives and to ascer­tain wheth­er the devel­op­ment will affect the integ­rity of the European site has been undertaken.

2. Likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects are anti­cip­ated on Bal­loch­buie SAC and Cairngorms SAC, and the qual­i­fy­ing fea­ture Otters, due to likely inter­con­nectiv­ity of for­aging hab­it­at with the applic­a­tion site.

3. Likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects are anti­cip­ated on the Cairngorms SPA and the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures Osprey and Per­eg­rine due to likely inter­con­nectiv­ity of for­aging hab­it­at with the applic­a­tion site.

4. The pro­posed works will con­trib­ute towards ensur­ing that the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River Dee SAC are in favour­able con­di­tion and make an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status.

5. By restor­ing nat­ur­al river pro­cesses, rein­stat­ing chan­nel / flood­plain con­nectiv­ity and improv­ing the qual­ity of riv­er­ine and flood­plain hab­it­at at the land­scape scale, the pro­posed devel­op­ment will pro­mote diversity and improve hab­it­at avail­ab­il­ity for fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sels, Atlantic sal­mon and otter across the site. Like­wise for­aging oppor­tun­ity and qual­ity for osprey and per­eg­rine will likely improve.

6. Mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures included in the pro­pos­al will reduce the con­struc­tion phase and post-con­struc­tion phase risks of dis­turb­ance and impacts from sed­i­ment mobil­isa­tion, con­struc­tion pol­lu­tion and the spread of dis­ease to a min­im­um level. Whilst this site rep­res­ents only a small part of the River Dee SAC, this pro­ject com­bined with oth­er res­tor­a­tion pro­jects could con­trib­ute to the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures achiev­ing bet­ter con­ser­va­tion status. Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 6 of 16

7. The pro­posed mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures included with­in the applic­a­tion, if imple­men­ted, will reduce the poten­tial effects to a min­im­al level so that all con­ser­va­tion object­ives can be met for the River Dee SAC. The recom­men­ded plan­ning con­di­tion requir­ing the sub­mis­sion and approv­al of a Con­struc­tion Envir­on­ment Man­age­ment Plan (CEMP), to include detailed mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures, and the employ­ment of an Eco­lo­gic­al Clerk of Works will ensure that all works car­ried out dur­ing con­struc­tion are in accord­ance with the approved CEMP, and the required mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures are implemented.

8. NatureScot have been con­sul­ted and agree with the HRA find­ings, con­clud­ing that the mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures out­lined will ensure there will be no adverse impact on site integ­rity of the River Dee SAC as a res­ult of the works.

9. Once the works have been com­pleted, they will have a pos­it­ive impact on both qual­i­fy­ing interests of the SAC.

Devel­op­ment plan context

Policies

Nation­al policy	Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 (NPF4) Scot­land 2045 (Policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this applic­a­tion are marked with a cross (x))
Policy 1	Tack­ling the cli­mate and nature crises
Policy 2	Cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion and adaptation
Policy 3	Biod­iversity
Policy 4	Nat­ur­al places
Policy 5	Soils
Policy 6	Forestry, wood­land and trees
Policy 7	His­tor­ic assets and places
Policy 8	Green belts
Policy 9	Brown­field, vacant and derel­ict land, and empty buildings
Policy 11	Energy
Policy 12	Zero waste
Policy 13	Sus­tain­able transport

X

X

X

X

X Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 7 of 16

Policy 14	Design, qual­ity and place	X
Policy 15	Loc­al liv­ing and 20 minute neighbourhoods
Policy 16	Qual­ity homes
Policy 17	Rur­al homes
Policy 18	Infra­struc­ture first
Policy 19	Heat­ing and cooling
Policy 20	Blue and green infrastructure	X
Policy 21	Play, recre­ation and sport
Policy 22	Flood risk and water management	X
Policy 23	Health and safety
Policy 24	Digit­al infrastructure
Policy 25	Com­munity wealth building
Policy 26	Busi­ness and industry
Policy 27	City, town, loc­al and com­mer­cial centres
Policy 28	Retail
Policy 29	Rur­al development
Policy 30	Tour­ism
Policy 31	Cul­ture and creativity
Policy 32	Aquacul­ture
Policy 33	Min­er­als

Stra­tegic policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 2027
Loc­al plan policy (Policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this applic­a­tion are marked with a cross (x))	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (2021)
Policy 1	New hous­ing development
Policy 2	Sup­port­ing eco­nom­ic growth
Policy 3	Design and placemaking
Policy 4	Nat­ur­al heritage
Policy 5	Land­scape
Policy 6	The sit­ing and design of digit­al com­mu­nic­a­tions equipment
Policy 7	Renew­able energy
Policy 8	Open space, sport and recreation

X

X

X Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 8 of 16

Policy 9	Cul­tur­al heritage
Policy 10	Resources
Policy 11	Developer oblig­a­tions

1. All new devel­op­ment pro­pos­als require to be assessed in rela­tion to policies con­tained in the adop­ted Devel­op­ment Plan which com­prises Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 (NPF4) and the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan
2. The full word­ing of policies can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-planning-framework‑4/documents/ and at: https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​w​p​-​c​o​n​t​e​n​t​/​u​p​l​o​a​d​s​/​2​0​2​1​/​0​3​/​C​N​P​A​-​L​D​P​-​2​0​2​1​-​w​e​b.pdf

Plan­ning guidance

1. Sup­ple­ment­ary guid­ance also forms part of the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and provides more details about how to com­ply with the policies. Guid­ance that is rel­ev­ant to this applic­a­tion is marked with a cross (x).

Policy 1	Hous­ing sup­ple­ment­ary guidance
Policy 2	Sup­port­ing eco­nom­ic growth non-stat­utory guidance
Policy 3	Design and place­mak­ing non-stat­utory guidance
Policy 4	Nat­ur­al her­it­age non-stat­utory guidance	X
Policy 5	Land­scape non-stat­utory guidance	X
Policy 7	Renew­able energy non-stat­utory guidance
Policy 8	Open space, sport and recre­ation non-stat­utory guidance
Policy 9	Cul­tur­al her­it­age non-stat­utory guidance
Policy 10	Resources non-stat­utory guidance
Policy 11	Developer oblig­a­tions sup­ple­ment­ary guidance

Con­sulta­tions

1. A sum­mary of the main issues raised by con­sul­tees now fol­lows: Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 9 of 16

2. His­tor­ic Envir­on­ment Scot­land raised no objec­tions to the proposal.

3. Fol­low­ing the sub­mis­sion of an updated flood mod­el, SEPA raised no objec­tions to the proposal.

4. The Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil His­tor­ic Envir­on­ment Team raised no issues in rela­tion to the proposal.

5. The Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil Flood Risk and Coast Pro­tec­tion Team made no com­ment on the application.

6. The Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil Nat­ur­al Envir­on­ment Team provided no sub­stant­ive com­ments on the applic­a­tion because of the call-in process.

7. The Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil Con­tam­in­ated Land Officer raised no objec­tions to the proposal.

8. The Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil Built Her­it­age Team raised no objec­tions to the proposal.

9. Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Land­scape Con­sult­ant raised no objec­tions to the pro­pos­al, with the final­ised scheme being viewed as hav­ing pos­it­ive impacts on the land­scape and on visu­al amenity.

10. Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Out­door Access Officer advised that, based on the avail­able flood mod­el­ling, the res­tor­a­tion scheme will not cause any sig­ni­fic­ant impacts on access routes or for recreation.

11. The Dee Dis­trict and Sal­mon Fish­ery Board and the River Dee Trust sup­port the pro­posed devel­op­ment stat­ing that it aligns with their ongo­ing work with­in the Dee catch­ment area and that the pro­pos­al will con­trib­ute to biod­iversity enhance­ment, the res­tor­a­tion of nat­ur­al river and flood­plain pro­cesses and towards resi­li­ence of the river, and its wider eco­sys­tem against the impacts of cli­mate change. Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 10 of 16

12. The Bal­later and Crath­ie, Brae­mar and Mid-Deeside Com­munity Coun­cils stated their full sup­port for the pro­posed development.

Rep­res­ent­a­tions

1. No rep­res­ent­a­tions were received.

Apprais­al

1. Sec­tion 25 of the Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Scot­land) Act 1997 (as amended) requires applic­a­tions to be determ­ined in accord­ance with the Devel­op­ment Plan. This com­prises the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021, and the Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4. Where there is con­flict between policies, NPF4 policies take precedence.

Prin­ciple

1. NPF4 Policy 1: Tack­ling the cli­mate and nature crises seeks to ensure that sig­ni­fic­ant weight will be giv­en to the glob­al cli­mate and nature crises when con­sid­er­ing all devel­op­ment proposals.

2. NPF4 Policy 2: Cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion and adapt­a­tion seeks to encour­age devel­op­ment that adapts to the cur­rent and future impacts of cli­mate change.

3. NPF4 Policy 3: Biod­iversity states that devel­op­ment pro­pos­als will con­trib­ute to the enhance­ment of biod­iversity, includ­ing where rel­ev­ant, restor­ing degraded hab­it­ats and build­ing and strength­en­ing nature net­works and the con­nec­tions between them. Pro­pos­als should also integ­rate nature-based solu­tions, where possible.

4. NPF4 Policy 4: Nat­ur­al places seeks to pro­tect, restore and enhance nat­ur­al assets mak­ing best use of nature-based solutions.

5. NPF4 Policy 20: Blue and green infra­struc­ture seeks to pro­tect and enhance blue infra­struc­ture and its networks.

6. The pur­pose of the pro­posed devel­op­ment is to restore nat­ur­al river pro­cesses, bet­ter con­nect the river to its flood­plain, and improve the qual­ity of hab­it­ats in the Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 11 of 16

river and on the flood­plain. In this way, the river and flood­plain should be closer to the nat­ur­al state of a gravel bed river flood­plain in a moun­tain­ous area. The pro­posed modi­fic­a­tions will deliv­er the rein­state­ment of nat­ur­al river form and pro­cess, increased hab­it­at diversity and biod­iversity, and improved cli­mate change resi­li­ence through reduced river flows, reduced energy, depos­ition of sed­i­ment and rechar­ging of groundwater.

1. The prin­ciple of the pro­posed devel­op­ment at the applic­a­tion site is sup­por­ted and in com­pli­ance with NPF4 Policy 1: Tack­ling the cli­mate and nature crises, NPF4 Policy 2: Cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion and adapt­a­tion, NPF4 Policy 3: Biod­iversity, NPF4 Policy 4: Nat­ur­al places, and NPF4 Policy 20: Blue and green infrastructure.

Design and landscape

1. NPF4 Policy 14: Design, qual­ity and place seeks to ensure that devel­op­ment pro­pos­als improve the qual­ity of the area and are con­sist­ent with the six qual­it­ies of suc­cess­ful places: healthy, pleas­ant, con­nec­ted, dis­tinct­ive, sus­tain­able, and adaptable.

2. LDP Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing also seeks to ensure that pro­pos­als improve the qual­ity of the area and are con­sist­ent with the six qual­it­ies of suc­cess­ful places.

3. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is con­sist­ent with the six qual­it­ies of suc­cess­ful places and will par­tic­u­larly con­trib­ute to the ​“sus­tain­ab­il­ity” qual­ity by integ­rat­ing nature pos­it­ive, biod­iversity solu­tions and con­trib­ut­ing towards cli­mate change resi­li­ence. The pro­pos­al sup­ports attract­ive nat­ur­al spaces and is there­fore also con­sist­ent with the ​“pleas­ant” quality.

4. The pro­pos­al is in accord­ance with NPF4 Policy 14: Design, qual­ity and place and with LDP Policy 3: Design and Placemaking.

Envir­on­ment and biodiversity

1. NPF4 Policy 3: Biod­iversity seeks to ensure that devel­op­ment pro­pos­als pro­tect biod­iversity, reverse biod­iversity loss, deliv­er pos­it­ive effects from devel­op­ment and Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 12 of 16

strengthen nature net­works. Major devel­op­ment pro­pos­als must include appro­pri­ate meas­ures to con­serve, restore and enhance biod­iversity so they are in a demon­strably bet­ter state than without inter­ven­tion in accord­ance with nation­al and loc­al guidance.

1. NPF4 Policy 4: Nat­ur­al places seeks to ensure that devel­op­ment pro­pos­als pro­tect, restore and enhance nat­ur­al assets mak­ing best use of nature-based solu­tions. Devel­op­ment that has sig­ni­fic­ant adverse impacts on des­ig­nated sites, after mit­ig­a­tion, will not be supported.

2. LDP Policy 4: Nat­ur­al her­it­age seeks to ensure that there are no adverse effects on biod­iversity interests.

3. The pro­pos­al site is loc­ated with­in the River Dee SAC, East­ern Cairngorms SSSI, Mar Lodge Estate Nation­al Nature Reserve, River Dee SPA and the Cairngorms SPA.

4. The pro­posed river res­tor­a­tion devel­op­ment will bene­fit in-chan­nel hab­it­at diversity and chan­nel flood­plain con­nectiv­ity, and as such may con­trib­ute to increased dis­tri­bu­tion and avail­ab­il­ity of hab­it­ats for both fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sels, Atlantic sal­mon and otter.

5. The bene­fits of the pro­pos­al will also apply bey­ond these qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the SAC, provid­ing increased quant­ity and qual­ity of hab­it­at for a range of flora and fauna includ­ing, but not lim­ited to the following:

   a) Breed­ing birds — The pro­posed hab­it­at works, includ­ing the install­a­tion of wader scrapes, should improve con­di­tions for breed­ing waders with­in the pro­ject site. b) Osprey and per­eg­rine – The likely long-term effects arising from the river res­tor­a­tion could improve hab­it­at for osprey and per­eg­rine prey spe­cies, improv­ing for­aging. c) Bats — The pro­posed hab­it­at works includ­ing enhance­ment of wet­land hab­it­ats on the flood­plain and the River Dee may improve hab­it­at diversity for inver­teb­rates, which would in turn bene­fit for­aging bats. Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 13 of 16

d) Badgers — Eco­lo­gic­al improve­ments to the site pro­posed as part of the applic­a­tion may improve the diversity of for­aging hab­it­at for badgers in the long-term. e) Water vole — Pro­posed eco­lo­gic­al improve­ments to the wet­land hab­it­at on site may improve the diversity hab­it­at for water voles.

1. Some det­ri­ment­al impacts on the eco­logy and envir­on­ment are expec­ted dur­ing the con­struc­tion works. These impacts will be short term and tem­por­ary, only last­ing for the dur­a­tion of the works. The mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures iden­ti­fied by the applic­ant are suf­fi­cient to evid­ence that adverse impacts on site integ­rity can be avoided, sub­ject to the recom­men­ded con­di­tion con­cern­ing the sub­mis­sion of a Con­struc­tion Envir­on­ment Man­age­ment Plan, to include spe­cif­ic and detailed mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures, and the employ­ment of a suit­ably qual­i­fied and exper­i­enced Eco­lo­gic­al Clerk of Works to over­see the con­struc­tion process.

2. The pro­posed devel­op­ment will pro­tect, restore and sig­ni­fic­antly enhance nat­ur­al assets so they are in a demon­strably bet­ter state than without inter­ven­tion and will not have any per­man­ent det­ri­ment­al impacts on the envir­on­ment or pro­tec­ted spe­cies. Tem­por­ary det­ri­ment­al impacts res­ult­ing from the con­struc­tion pro­cess can be suit­ably mit­ig­ated. The pro­pos­al there­fore com­plies with NPF4 Policy 3: Biod­iversity, NPF4 Policy 4: Nat­ur­al places and LDP Policy 4 Nat­ur­al heritage.

Flood­ing and sur­face water

1. NPF4 Policy 22: Flood risk and water man­age­ment seeks to ensure that devel­op­ments are resi­li­ent to cur­rent and future flood risk.

2. SEPA raised no objec­tions to the pro­pos­al not­ing that the pro­posed devel­op­ment will have min­im­al impact on estim­ated flood levels.

3. The pro­pos­al will not have any det­ri­ment­al impacts on flood risk to any recept­ors and is in accord­ance with NPF4 Policy 22, poten­tially provid­ing addi­tion­al resi­li­ence to flood­ing down­stream. Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 14 of 16

Con­clu­sion

1. The pro­posed devel­op­ment will deliv­er the rein­state­ment of nat­ur­al river form and pro­cess. This will res­ult in increased biod­iversity, and a pos­it­ive impact on qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River Dee SAC. The prin­ciple of the pro­pos­al com­plies with NPF4 Policy 1: Tack­ling the cli­mate and nature crises, NPF4 Policy 2: Cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion and adapt­a­tion and NPF4 Policy 20: Blue and green infrastructure.

2. The devel­op­ment will pro­tect, restore and sig­ni­fic­antly enhance nat­ur­al assets in com­pli­ance with NPF4 Policy 3: Biod­iversity, NPF4 Policy 4: Nat­ur­al places and LDP Policy 4: Nat­ur­al her­it­age and it is accept­able in terms of impacts on flood risk and sur­face water drain­age in accord­ance with NPF4 Policy 22: Flood risk and water management.

3. The pro­posed devel­op­ment accords with the six qual­it­ies of place as iden­ti­fied by NPF4 Policy 14: Design, qual­ity and place and with LDP Policy 3: Design and Placemaking.

4. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is there­fore in accord­ance with the pro­vi­sions of the devel­op­ment plan and no mater­i­al con­sid­er­a­tions out­weigh this conclusion.

Recom­mend­a­tion

That mem­bers of the com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to APPROVE the applic­a­tion for Upper Dee River and flood­plain res­tor­a­tion at the River Dee from No 1446 9203 up to the con­flu­ence with Quoi­ch Water at No 1226 9068, Aber­deen­shire, sub­ject to the fol­low­ing con­di­tions: Cairngorms Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Nation­al Park Author­ity 27 June 2025 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 15 of 16

Con­di­tions

Those con­di­tions lis­ted below in bold text are sus­pens­ive con­di­tions, which require to be dis­charged pri­or to imple­ment­a­tion of the development.

1. The devel­op­ment to which this per­mis­sion relates must be begun not later than the expir­a­tion of three years begin­ning with the date on which the per­mis­sion is granted.

Reas­on: The time lim­it con­di­tion is imposed in order to com­ply with the require­ments of sec­tion 58 of the Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Scot­land) Act 1997 as amended.

1. No works in con­nec­tion with the devel­op­ment hereby approved shall com­mence on site until a site-spe­cif­ic Con­struc­tion Envir­on­ment­al Man­age­ment Plan (CEMP) has been sub­mit­ted to and approved in writ­ing by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity. For the avoid­ance of doubt the CEMP shall include full details of pro­posed mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures and of the role and respons­ib­il­it­ies on site of an eco­lo­gic­al clerk of works, or sim­il­arly com­pet­ent per­son. All works car­ried out dur­ing con­struc­tion shall be under­taken strictly in accord­ance with the approved CEMP.

Reas­on: In the interests of pro­tect­ing the biod­iversity and the envir­on­ment in accord­ance with Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 Policy 3: Biod­iversity and Policy 4: Nat­ur­al her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.