Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 1 of 50

Com­mit­tee report

Devel­op­ment proposed: Con­struc­tion of forestry extrac­tion track, track upgrad­ing at Land 465M NW Of Golden Acre, Glen Road, Newtonmore

Ref­er­ence: 2025/0167/DET Applic­ant: Pit­main and Glen­ban­chor Estates Ltd Date called-in: 14 July 2025 Recom­mend­a­tion: Approve sub­ject to con­di­tions Case officer: Kath­er­ine Don­nach­ie, Plan­ning Officer

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 2 of 50

[Map of the area show­ing the pro­posed track and sur­round­ing features]

This map has been pro­duced to aid in the stat­utory pro­cess of deal­ing with plan­ning applic­a­tions. The map is to help identi­fy the site and its sur­round­ings and to aid Plan­ning Officers, Com­mit­tee Mem­bers and the Pub­lic in the determ­in­a­tion of the pro­pos­al. Maps shown in the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be used for the pur­poses of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee. Any oth­er use risks infringing Crown Copy­right and may lead to pro­sec­u­tion or civil pro­ceed­ings. Maps pro­duced with­in this Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be repro­duced with the express per­mis­sion of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and oth­er Copy­right hold­ers. This per­mis­sion must be gran­ted in advance.

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 3 of 50

Site descrip­tion, pro­pos­al and history

Site descrip­tion

1. The pro­posed site is loc­ated to the north of New­ton­more run­ning between Glen Road to the west of the vil­lage (which leads up Glen­ban­chor) and Strone to the east of the vil­lage, then head­ing north to con­nect with exist­ing tracks which exit onto the A86 road south of Ballachroan.

2. The west­ern part of the site com­prises forestry then runs east­wards across moor­land and com­mon graz­ings, bounded to the south by birch wood­land which is des­ig­nated as ancient wood­land. There are scattered prop­er­ties at the back of New­ton­more bey­ond this to the south. The town­ship of Strone lies to the east where the tracks head north along­side a water­course and on the route of an exist­ing core path, then round and through felled wood­land to con­nect to exist­ing tracks.

3. The land involved com­prises moor­land, rough graz­ing / com­mon graz­ings and forestry with cross­ings of exist­ing water­courses pro­posed. Land in this area is used for croft­ing pur­poses with some sheep fanks close to the pro­posed new track. There is also a water reser­voir adja­cent to the core path to the north of Strone.

4. There are no spe­cif­ic envir­on­ment­al des­ig­na­tions on the site itself but the water­courses which are to be crossed are trib­u­tar­ies of the River Spey Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion (SAC), des­ig­nated for its Atlantic sal­mon, fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sels, sea lamprey, and otter interests. A new cul­vert is pro­posed over a water­course which passes through Cre­ag Dubh Site of Spe­cial Sci­entif­ic Interest (SSSI) (des­ig­nated for upland birch fea­tures and loc­ated to the far west of the applic­a­tion site) before enter­ing the River Calder which is a trib­u­tary of the River Spey.

5. There are areas of juni­per on the east­ern parts of the site closer to the water­courses and some areas of blanket bog and wet heath­land along the south­ern and east­ern parts of the site.

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 4 of 50

1. There are no lis­ted build­ings of archi­tec­tur­al or his­tor­ic import­ance in the imme­di­ate vicin­ity, but there are a num­ber of sites of archae­olo­gic­al interest includ­ing hut circles and town­ships. A num­ber of core paths, foot­paths and rights of way cross the site or are in the vicin­ity includ­ing the Wild­cat Trail.

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: 2025/0167/DET | Con­struc­tion of forestry extrac­tion track, track upgrad­ing | Land 465M NW Of Golden Acre Glen Road Newtonmore

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Plan — Site Plan	64045301 Rev D	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Site Plan	640453 38 Rev C	23/02/26	15/04/26
Plan — Loc­a­tion Plan — drone photo locations	64045314 Rev A	01/03/25	05/11/25
Plan — Loc­a­tion Plan — dis­play board locations	64045315 Rev A	01/03/25	05/11/25
Plan — Site Plan	64045301 Rev D	01/03/25	05/03/26
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Aer­i­al No 3	64045308 Rev A	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Aer­i­al No 4	64045309 Rev A	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Aer­i­al No 5	64045310 Rev A	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Aer­i­al No 7	64045312 Rev A	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Aer­i­al No 8	64045313 Rev A	03/03/26	05/03/26

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 5 of 50

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Ancient Wood­land Area	64045302	01/03/25	14/07/25
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Blanket Bog and Wet Heathland	64045304	01/03/25	14/07/25
Plan — Site Lay­out Plan — Juni­per Population	64045303	01/03/25	14/07/25
Plan — Sec­tion Plan	DB-03/19	04/07/19	14/07/25
Plan — New Plant­ing Areas		02/05/24	14/07/25
Plan — Cul­vert­ing Details	64045305	01/03/25	14/07/25
Plan — Elev­a­tion Plan	DB-01/19	04/07/19	14/07/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (1 of 2)	64045324	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (2 of 2)	64045325	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (1 of 7)	64045317	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (2 of 7)	64045318	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (3 of 7)	64045319	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (4 of 7)	64045320	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (5 of 7)	64045321	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (6 of 7)	64045322	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion (7 of 7)	64045323	01/08/25	16/09/25
Plan — Aer­i­al No 6 — Pro­posed Route	64045311 Rev C	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Site Photographs	64045326	01/02/25	26/09/25
Plan — Track Lay­out (1 of 11)	64045327 Rev A	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (2 of 11)	64045328 Rev B	23/02/26	27/02/26

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 6 of 50

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Plan — Track Lay­out (3 of 11)	64045329 Rev B	23/02/26	23/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (4 of 11)	64045330 Rev A	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (5 of 11)	64045331 Rev B	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (6 of 11)	64045332 Rev A	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (7 of 11)	64045333	01/09/25	26/09/25
Plan — Track Lay­out (8 of 11)	64045334 Rev A	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (9 of 11)	64045335 Rev A	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (10 of 11)	64045336 Rev A	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out (11 of 11)	64045337 Rev A	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out and Fell Phase Map	64045341	01/10/25	08/10/25
Plan — Aer­i­al No 1	64045306 Rev B	02/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Aer­i­al No 2	64045307 Rev B	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Aer­i­al No 6	64045311 Rev C	03/03/26	05/03/26
Plan — Drone Photo Locations	64045314 Rev A	01/03/25	05/11/25
Plan — Pro­posed Archae­olo­gic­al Dis­play Board Locations	64045315 Rev A	01/03/25	05/11/25
Plan — Route of Tim­ber Extraction	64045342 Rev C	23/02/26	27/02/26
Plan — Track Lay­out and Lon­git­ud­in­al Sec­tion Sheet	64045339 Rev A	01/09/25	05/11/25

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 7 of 50

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Plan — Track Lay­out and Ownership	54045340 Rev A	01/09/25	05/11/25
Oth­er — Archae­olo­gic­al Dis­play Board Examples			14/07/25
Oth­er — Archae­ology Report	GBE24 004	20/01/25	14/07/25
Oth­er — Pre­lim­in­ary Eco­lo­gic­al Apprais­al and Nation­al Veget­a­tion Clas­si­fic­a­tion Report	14533 Issue 1	06/11/24	14/07/25
Oth­er — Sup­port­ing Statement			03/03/26
Oth­er — Peat Survey	14683 Issue 1	18/11/25	19/11/25
Oth­er — Eco­logy Report — Revised	383074/RE/002	01/12/25	01/12/25
Oth­er — Enviro­centre Eco­logy Review Let­ter 2025	383074/RE/002	01/12/25	03/12/25

*Where no spe­cif­ic day of month has been provided on the plan, the sys­tem defaults to the 1^st of the month.

1. Plans of the pro­pos­als are included in Appendix 1.

2. The applic­ant has explained that the pro­posed new tracks are required in order to extract tim­ber from the ongo­ing forestry oper­a­tions on the wider estates, with Glen­ban­chor and the neigh­bour­ing estate of Pit­main both being under the con­trol of the applic­ants. This is required to facil­it­ate tim­ber extrac­tion from the wind­blown wood­lands in Glen­ban­chor to the west. These trees will be felled and sub­sequently replanted with a more appro­pri­ate mix of nat­ive spe­cies to integ­rate with the new wood­lands. The pro­posed track net­work will also effect­ively join the two estates in terms of vehicu­lar access to the north of New­ton­more where there is already a net­work of tracks across the estates. The applic­ants have sub­mit­ted plans show­ing the pro­posed plant­ing areas on the Glen­ban­chor estate togeth­er with areas of wind­blown wood­land to be clear felled.

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 8 of 50

1. As noted earli­er, this track will run from Glen Road to the west of New­ton­more, towards Strone to the north­east of the vil­lage and ulti­mately con­nect­ing up with exist­ing tracks to exit onto the A86 road south of Ballachroan.

2. It is pro­posed to form a new upgraded access onto the minor Glen Road. It was ori­gin­ally pro­posed that this access point be of forestry stand­ard and spe­cific­a­tions but will now be amended to a more stand­ard access point as forestry vehicles will not be using this access point. Instead, they will come in at the access point to the far east at Bal­lachroan and will run along the new track with a turn­ing area provided at this west­ern end to enable vehicles to turn once loaded and run back east again. The access point onto Glen Road will only be suit­able for smal­ler estate vehicles and a num­ber of passing places will be provided along the track.

3. This new track will run east­wards through forestry ini­tially then across croft­ing land / moor­land along the back of New­ton­more towards the small town­ship of Strone. The track has been routed to avoid ancient wood­land to the south and an area of exist­ing sheep pens. The wild­cat core path runs to the south of the track along this sec­tion. The new track will cross over minor water­courses via arched cul­verts and fur­ther east near Strone will cross the main Allt Laraidh water­course via a pro­posed new bridge to then run north along the site of an exist­ing core path along­side the Allt Mor / Allt Laraidh water­courses. To the west of this core path is anoth­er area of sheep pens and to the north of these sheep pens anoth­er bridge will be required to cross the watercourse.

4. The core path is of track stand­ard up to the exist­ing Scot­tish Water reser­voir then it becomes a less dis­tinct walk­ing path. The new / upgraded track will fol­low this route and will be re-routed closer to the burn at one point to avoid steep gradi­ents. River rein­force­ment is pro­posed at this point. The upgraded track will con­tin­ue north­wards along the core path route. Bey­ond this it will con­tin­ue north through an area of felled trees then will loop round to run south to join up with the track net­work lead­ing south by Bal­lachroan with a fur­ther cul­vert cross­ing required here before con­nect­ing onto the exist­ing tracks. This exist­ing track net­work con­tin­ues south onto the A86 trunk road at an exist­ing junc­tion point to the east of the village.

---

Item 5 Plan­ning Com­mit­tee 24 April 2026 Page 9 of 50

1. The new / upgraded tracks will be 3.4 metres wide to facil­it­ate forestry traffic with a crushed rock sur­face on sub-base fill with ditch loc­ated uphill and top soiled side slopes. Mater­i­al to con­struct the tracks will be won from two exist­ing bor­row pits, one on Glen Road and the oth­er to the north of Bal­lachroan. The applicant’s sup­port­ing state­ment explains that is it pro­posed to rein­state the bor­row pits once the devel­op­ment is complete.

2. North of the reser­voir (at the Strone end of the new track) a short spur track was ori­gin­ally pro­posed run­ning back west, across and along­side the north­ern reaches of the Allt Mor burn to con­nect into the exist­ing estate track net­work to the west. This would have involved numer­ous cul­verts and regrad­ing works. Along with this pro­pos­al it was also pro­posed to remove an exist­ing track which con­nects from Strone into the wider net­work. Fol­low­ing dis­cus­sions, the applic­ants have agreed to revise the pro­pos­als to remove the new spur link and retain the exist­ing track which is well estab­lished in the land­scape and provides the neces­sary link to the wider track net­work to the north on the west side of the water­course. Revised plans detail­ing these changes were sub­mit­ted in Feb­ru­ary 2026 and duly read­vert­ised in the press, with all inter­ested parties and con­sul­tees re-noti­fied for any comments.

3. The applic­ants have con­firmed that the total length of this pro­posed over­all track net­work will be 3.42km of new track and 0.74km of upgrad­ing exist­ing tracks.

4. Indic­at­ive plans of the pro­posed bridge cross­ings have been provided which illus­trate the use of timber.

5. It is also pro­posed to erect two archae­olo­gic­al inform­a­tion boards, one beside the lower track at the back of New­ton­more and one beside the upper track to the north by the cleared forestry area. These will give inform­a­tion on the archae­olo­gic­al his­tory and examples of dif­fer­ent types of boards have been provided.

6. Sup­port­ing mater­i­al has been provided as fol­lows: a) Sup­port­ing State­ment – sets out the rationale and his­tory of the pro­posed track net­work and how this applic­a­tion seeks to address the reas­ons for refus­al of a previous