Item10Appendix2HRA20230210DETBadaguish

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Item 10 Appendix 2 11 August 2023 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Agenda item 10

Appendix 2

2023/0210/DET

Hab­it­ats reg­u­la­tions appraisal

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Assessment

2023/0210/DET Reten­tion of ten wig­wam accom­mod­a­tion units

26/07/2023 This is a record that the HRA has been reappraised based on the new applic­a­tion to retain the 10 wig­wams for a fur­ther three years. Caper­cail­lie num­bers were veri­fied as remain­ing stable for the last three years. There­fore, it can be con­cluded that the VMP is work­ing and that the wig­wams have had no neg­at­ive impact on caper­cail­lie or the integ­rity of the Cairngorms SPA.

2020/0081/DET Bad­aguish Out­door Centre

23/04/2020 This is a record that this HRA has been reappraised based on a new applic­a­tion to retain the 10 wig­wams for a fur­ther three years. Advice was sought from RSPB on levels of dis­turb­ance to a nearby lek and effect­ive­ness of the cur­rent Vis­it­or Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan. The cur­rent advice (RSPB 22/4/20) was that the lek has remained stable for the last five years and that the cur­rent Vis­it­or Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan was work­ing. There­fore we can still con­clude that there is no effect either dir­ect or indir­ect on the con­ser­va­tion object­ives and we can con­clude that there will be no adverse effect on the integ­rity of the Cairngorms SPA.

2017/0008/DET Bad­aguish Out­door Centre

15/02/2017

Intro­duc­tion This is a record of the assess­ment under reg­u­la­tion 48 of the Con­ser­va­tion (Nat­ur­al Hab­it­ats, &c.) Reg­u­la­tions 1994 (as amended) for the plan­ning applic­a­tion 2017/0008/DET at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre.

This applic­a­tion is an applic­a­tion for 10 hol­i­day wig­wams at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre. Con­sent has been pre­vi­ously giv­en for these wig­wams on the basis that they would be tem­por­ary. The ori­gin­al per­mis­sion for the 10 wig­wams lapsed and a ret­ro­spect­ive plan­ning applic­a­tion was sub­mit­ted in 2016 (2015/0375/DET) to extend the time peri­od for this 10 wig­wams for a fur­ther year which was approved on a tem­por­ary basis. This plan­ning per­mis­sion is due to expire on 22 Feb­ru­ary 2017 and the applic­ant is now seek­ing to retain the wig­wams for a fur­ther 3 year peri­od. These tem­por­ary wig­wams are inten­ded to be in place for 3 years or until the con­sen­ted 35 wig­wams (plan­ning applic­a­tions 2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET) are installed, whichever is soon­er. Some of the con­sen­ted 35 wig­wams are now in place, so that with the 10 tem­por­ary wig­wams, there is cur­rently a total of 18 wig­wams across the site. There are only inten­ded to be max­im­um of 35 wig­wams at the site

at one time. The 10 wig­wams con­cerned by this applic­a­tion are cur­rently loc­ated with­in the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre com­plex, on developed land.

There are vis­it­or stat­ist­ics avail­able for 2013, 2014 and 2016 based on the usage of the exist­ing wig­wams. It is anti­cip­ated that the pro­pos­al will lead to an increase in vis­it­or num­bers and an increase in people using trails with­in the out­door centre and in the sur­round­ing Glen­more area.

The Bad­aguish Out­door Centre is used as a ​“hub” from which res­id­ents can access off-site activ­it­ies in the sur­round­ing area from a range of loc­al out­door activ­ity oper­at­ors. Because the centre does not employ instruc­tion­al staff, the major­ity of vis­it­ors are off-site dur­ing the day­time tak­ing part in out­door activ­it­ies away from the centre. The on-site facil­it­ies are mostly in use for low-key inform­al recre­ation in early morn­ings and even­ings. The excep­tion to this rule is dis­abled res­pite care vis­it­ors who spend more time at the centre and when there are lar­ger, organ­ised events which util­ise the trails and ground adja­cent to Bad­aguish. FCS has to be con­sul­ted on any events in order to avoid dis­turb­ance to wild­life and habitats.

A Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan (VMP) was included as part of the pre­vi­ous applic­a­tions 2015/0132/DET, 2015/0133/DET and 2015/0375/DET. The pur­pose of the VMP is to man­age the impacts on caper­cail­lie. The VMP includes meas­ures such as: • Addi­tion­al sig­nage at key access areas to alert people of sens­it­ive wild­life and to remain on paths • To ensure vis­it­ors enter­ing the site from out­side the centre and util­ising the trails keep their dogs under con­trol • To dis­cour­age the cre­ation of unau­thor­ised trails and to remove these where neces­sary • Brief­ing vis­it­ors on arrival of the sens­it­iv­ity of wild­life around the site and encour­age them to recre­ate responsibly

This VMP is now live as a res­ult of the pre­vi­ous con­sen­ted applic­a­tions and the first mon­it­or­ing report for the VMP was sub­mit­ted on the 31^st of Janu­ary 2017. The mon­it­or­ing report states that: • Vis­it­or num­bers for cur­rent wig­wam use are well below that anti­cip­ated when all 35 wig­wams are in place – this is to be expec­ted • All vis­it­ing groups are being briefed to envir­on­ment­al sens­it­ives (i.e. caper­cail­lie) on arrival • Use of FCS leaf­let of pro­moted trails is ongo­ing. There are plants to sup­ple­ment this with per­man­ent inter­pret­a­tion dis­play­ing FCS trails • Annu­al updates from FCS on sens­it­ive sites are reques­ted by Bad­aguish man­age­ment to inform man­age­ment of vis­it­ors • Sig­nage to encour­age people to stay on trails and keep on dogs on leads is now in place. There is believed to be an improve­ment in beha­viour by dog own­ers vis­it­ing the centre and neigh­bour­ing woods – it is believed that few dogs are observed off- lead • There is no evid­ence of emer­ging inform­al tri­als 2

Back­ground to the assess­ment The prin­cip­al doc­u­ments which have been taken into account for this assess­ment are: • Long Term Mas­ter­plan, draw­ing num­ber 3663 – 030 (2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET) • Long Term Mas­ter­plan, draw­ing num­ber 3663 – 020 (wig­wam relo­ca­tion — 2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET) • Site Lay­out — ​“10no. tem­por­ary wig­wams Bad­aguish Out­door Centre” ⁴¹¹¹⁄₀₆₂ • The Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan Ver­sion 5 (Novem­ber 2015) • Sup­port­ing Inform­a­tion, Bracewell Stirl­ing, sub­mit­ted with applic­a­tion 2017/0008/DET • Bad­aguish Out­door Centre web­site www​.accom​mod​a​tion​at​bad​aguish​.org • Com­ment on Enforce­ment by RSPB (let­ter dated 08/09/2015) • FCS brood count and lekk data • Con­fid­en­tial reports and sur­veys on caper­cail­lie dis­tri­bu­tion in Rotheimurchus, Inshriach, Aber­nethy and Craigmore Wood. (T.Poole, FCS and RSPB 2013)*

• With­in this report the details of loc­a­tions of caper­cail­lie and their Lekking sites is gen­er­al­ised and the sur­veys above are not with­in the pub­lic domain. This is to pro­tect the birds from pos­sible dis­turb­ance that may res­ult from this inform­a­tion being widely dis­trib­uted. Con­sul­tees have been giv­en access to all information.

Table 1. Stages of Assessment

Stages of Assess­ment Stage I Decide wheth­er pro­pos­al is sub­ject to HRA

Stage 2 Identi­fy Natura Sites that should be con­sidered and gath­er inform­a­tion about the Natura Sites

Stage 3 Con­sulta­tion on the meth­od and scope of the apprais­al with SNH and oth­ers. Request addi­tion­al inform­a­tion from applic­ant if required.

Stage 4 Screen­ing the pro­pos­al for likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects on Natura sites includ­ing mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures included with­in the proposal

Stage 5 Screen for ​“in com­bin­a­tion effects” with oth­er plans or projects

Stage 6 Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment to determ­ine effect upon con­ser­va­tion object­ives. Pre­lim­in­ary con­clu­sion about adverse effect upon the integ­rity of any site.

Stage 7 Con­sulta­tion with SNH (and oth­ers if con­sidered appropriate)

Stage 8 Apply addi­tion­al mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures, if required, via con­di­tions or agree­ments to ensure that there is no adverse effect on site integ­rity 3

Stage 9 Con­clu­sion on Integ­rity test

Stage 10 Reg­u­la­tion 49 derog­a­tion pro­ced­ures. This only applies if adverse effects remain and Com­pet­ent Author­ity still wishes to approve the application

Stages 1 – 5 describ­ing the Natura sites and Screening

The pro­posed devel­op­ment is not wholly con­cerned with the neces­sary man­age­ment of a European site for nature con­ser­va­tion and requires plan­ning per­mis­sion and so the plans must be sub­ject to assess­ment under the terms of Dir­ect­ive 92/43/EEC.

Stages 2: Iden­ti­fic­a­tion of Natura Sites and gath­er­ing their details

The list below is those sites that have been taken for­ward to screen­ing for likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects. See Appendix I for details on each site and its qual­i­fy­ing features.

Oth­er sites were con­sidered but have not been taken for­ward. For example, the River Spey SAC and Cairngorms SAC. There is no route to an effect for these sites through the con­struc­tion and oper­a­tion­al phase of the pro­pos­al and as such they have been ruled out of the assessment.

Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Area (SPA)

Cairngorms SPA Aber­nethy SPA Kin­veachy SPA Craigmore SPA Anagach SPA

Stage 3: Dis­cus­sions on the meth­od and scope of the apprais­al and requests for addi­tion­al information

SNH com­men­ted on the VMP asso­ci­ated with the pre­vi­ous applic­a­tion for 35 wig­wams. SNH reques­ted addi­tion­al detail on mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures. This request was sup­por­ted by the CNPA Nation­al Her­it­age and Access teams. Forestry Com­mis­sion Scot­land are the landown­ers and have agreed to the meas­ures out­lined in the VMP.

SNH have provided advice on the scope of the HRA.

Addi­tion­al inform­a­tion was required in the form of brood count data from the FCS data set for Glenmore.

Stage 4: Screen­ing the pro­pos­al for likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects

The effects iden­ti­fied as dis­cussed in Table 3. 4

Table 3. Screen­ing for LSE from Bad­aguish Out­door Centre (addi­tion­al wig­wams, camp­ing area and bike trails)

Cairngorms SPA | Qual­i­fy­ing Fea­ture Affected | Pos­sible effect of devel­op­ment | Likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect | Dur­a­tion | Screen­ing assess­ment | Screen­ing out­come | | — -| — -| — -| — -| — -| — -| | Caper­cail­lie | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity in the form of walk­ers with­in Cairngorm SPA from users of new devel­op­ment. This is a dir­ect effect. | Dis­turb­ance to lekking, brood rear­ing and feed­ing hab­it­ats from inform­al recre­ation­al activ­ity. | Tem­por­ary | A small increase in use of the SPA which lies 300m from the site. The 10 exist­ing wig­wams have been in place for 6 years with­in an already well developed vis­it­or area. The major­ity of vis­it­ors will be using organ­ised out­door activ­it­ies off-site and out­side of the SPAs. Vis­it­ors that remain on site dur­ing the day are spe­cif­ic groups using the site’s facil­it­ies and present no risk (i.e. dis­abled groups). There is a lek with­in the SPA Ikm from the Bad­aguish Centre. The nearest brood rear­ing area with­in the SPA lies approx­im­ately 970m from the Bad­aguish centre in wood­land off-track. The num­bers of people recre­at­ing in mornings/​afternoons/​evenings pre­dicted to low rel­at­ive to the total num­ber of vis­it­ors using the oth­er facil­it­ies on site. How­ever due to the close prox­im­ity of the SPA from the vis­it­or centre there is a risk that some vis­it­ors could recre­ate with­in the SPA and cause dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie. | Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect | | | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity in | Dis­turb­ance to lekking, brood rear­ing and feed­ing | Tem­por­ary | Pets are not allowed at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre site (camp­ing or wig­wams) There­fore there is | No effect | 5

| | the form of walk­ers with dogs with­in Cairngorm SPA from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment. This is a dir­ect effect. | hab­it­ats from recre­ation­al activ­ity. | | no effect from walk­ers with dogs as part of the pro­pos­al. | | | | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity in the form of Moun­tain bikers with­in the Cairngorm SPA from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment. This is a dir­ect effect. | Dis­turb­ance to lekking, brood rear­ing and feed­ing hab­it­ats from inform­al recre­ation­al activ­ity in afternoon/​evenings. | Tem­por­ary | A small increase in use of the SPA which lies 300m from the site. The 10 exist­ing wig­wams have been in place for 6 years with­in an already well developed vis­it­or area. The major­ity of vis­it­ors will be using organ­ised out­door activ­it­ies off-site and out­side of the SPAs. Vis­it­ors that remain on site dur­ing the day are spe­cif­ic groups using the site’s facil­it­ies and present no risk (i.e. dis­abled groups). There is a lek with­in the SPA Ikm from the Bad­aguish Centre. The nearest brood rear­ing area with­in the SPA lies approx­im­ately 970m from the Bad­aguish centre in wood­land off-track. The num­bers of people recre­at­ing in mornings/​afternoons/​evenings pre­dicted to low rel­at­ive to the total num­ber of vis­it­ors using the oth­er facil­it­ies on site. How­ever due to the close prox­im­ity of the SPA from the vis­it­or centre there is a risk that some vis­it­ors could recre­ate with­in the SPA and cause dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie. | Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect | | | Increase in recre­ation (walk­ers, walk­ers with dogs, moun­tain bikers) in oth­er SPAs that sup­port caper­cail­lie. | A reduc­tion in pro­ductiv­ity in neigh­bour­ing SPAs, redu­cing the viab­il­ity of the meta pop­u­la­tion through decreased migra­tion and increased hab­it­at | Tem­por­ary | Aber­nethy Forest (5km away) – poten­tial small increase in occa­sion­al use of this SPA. Aber­nethy already exper­i­ences 40,000 vis­it­ors per year. The pro­pos­al of retain­ing the 10 wig­wams for a fur­ther 3 years (or until the capa­city of 35 wig­wams is reached – whichever is soon­er) would present a very small | No effect | 6

| | This is an indir­ect effect. | frag­ment­a­tion. This could have an effect upon the Cairngorms SPA. | | addi­tion to this fig­ure. Giv­en the dis­tance from Bad­aguish this fig­ure would be reduced fur­ther. There is already adequate pro­vi­sion for vis­it­ors at this site through man­aged foot­paths, vis­it­or centre and a trail warden. There­fore the effect of addi­tion­al vis­it­ors from the pro­pos­al is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. Anagach Woods (20km away) – Giv­en the dis­tance of the pro­pos­al from this site and that it is not a pro­moted place to vis­it from Glen­more area, it is unlikely to be a des­tin­a­tion for vis­it­ors at Bad­aguish. The effect of the pro­pos­al on this site is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. Craigmore Wood (12km away) — this SPA is not a pop­u­lar des­tin­a­tion with only one pro­moted path which skirts south­ern edge and no core paths. The pro­pos­al is unlikely to gen­er­ate sig­ni­fic­ant increase in users to paths; dis­tance from devel­op­ment means it is unlikely to be a sig­ni­fic­ant tar­get des­tin­a­tion. RSPB man­age­ment strategy is to keep num­bers low by pro­mot­ing oth­er less sens­it­ive areas and not pro­mot­ing access and car park­ing. The effect of the pro­pos­al on this site is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. Kin­veachy Forest (8km away) – There is a well- developed estate path and track net­work which is used by walk­ers. Cyc­lists are largely kept away from the SPA from Aviemore side because of large deer fence that is crossed by stiles rather than gates. Altern­at­ive routes through Craigel­lach­ie NNR are well pro­moted and may ​‘inter­cept’ sig­ni­fic­ant pro­por­tion of poten­tial walk­ers from the pro­pos­al. NCN7 runs below Kin­veachy face out­with of SPA in this area. Giv­en the dis­tance from the pro­pos­al, and the low | | 7

| | Increase in recre­ation by walk­ers, dog walk­ers and moun­tain bikers with­in Non-SPA wood­land sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie This is an indir­ect effect. | Reduc­tion in pro­ductiv­ity of pop­u­la­tion redu­cing the viab­il­ity of meta-pop­u­la­tion though decreased migra­tion and in effect increased hab­it­at frag­ment­a­tion. | Tem­por­ary | num­ber of poten­tial vis­it­ors, the effect of the pro­pos­al on this site is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. The Slug­gan track leads from Bad­aguish to Pity­oul­ish. Recent inspec­tion of Pity­oul­ish shows no evid­ence of use of these woods by caper­cail­lie. Infre­quent migrat­ory use may occur. There is a lek approx­im­ately Ikm from Bad­aguish out­door centre. This has been increas­ing in size and is now at its peak of 8 lekking males. There is a smal­ler lekk in non-SPA wood­land at a sim­il­ar dis­tance from the Bad­aguish out­door centre. This lekk is thought to be a rem­nant and is likely to be related to oth­er large lekk above. The area sur­round­ing Bad­aguish is also known to sup­port hens with brood. There are two records, one which lies adja­cent to a forest track approx­im­ately 600m from the Bad­aguish centre. The oth­er lies approx­im­ately 970m from the Bad­aguish centre in wood­land off-track. Pro­pos­al has poten­tial to increase num­ber of vis­it­ors using wood­land sur­round­ing Bad­aguish for recre­ation in afternoons/​evenings, thus increas­ing risk of dis­turb­ance, par­tic­u­larly to caper­cail­lie hens with brood. Pets are not allowed at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre site (camp­ing or wig­wams) There­fore there is no effect from walk­ers with dogs as part of the pro­pos­al. | Likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect (walk­ers and moun­tain bikers only) | 8

| | Increased par­ti­cip­a­tion in organ­ised events held at Bad­aguish, using wood­land sur­round­ing the centre (SPA and non- SPA). Dir­ect and indir­ect effects. | Reduc­tion in pro­ductiv­ity with­in Glen­more forest pop­u­la­tion redu­cing the viab­il­ity of meta-pop­u­la­tion though decreased migra­tion and in effect increased hab­it­at frag­ment­a­tion. Dis­turb­ance to lekking, brood rear­ing and feed­ing hab­it­ats from recre­ation­al activ­ity in the SPA. | Tem­por­ary | Large organ­ised events are held annu­ally from Bad­aguish Out­door Centre. The Aviemore Half Mara­thon fin­ishes at Bad­aguish. The Aviemore Triath­lon starts and fin­ishes at Bad­aguish and util­ises wood­land around the Bad­aguish centre. The major­ity of par­ti­cipants will be stay­ing off-site. The scale of the pro­pos­al is unlikely to make a sig­ni­fic­ant con­tri­bu­tion to the num­bers of par­ti­cipants attend­ing these events. The applic­ant already has to have detailed con­sulta­tion with the landown­er, Forestry Com­mis­sion Scot­land, when arran­ging these events. Events already take into con­sid­er­a­tion the loc­a­tions of areas import­ant for caper­cail­lie and take place out­side of the breed­ing sea­son. | No effect | | | Loss of trees with­in the pro­pos­al area | Dis­rup­tion to wood­land con­nectiv­ity with­in non-SPA wood­land | Tem­por­ary | The wig­wams are exist­ing and no remov­al of hab­it­at is required to retain them. | No effect | | | Con­struc­tion activ­ity | Dis­turb­ance con­struc­tion of the site and install­a­tion of facil­it­ies | Tem­por­ary | The wig­wams are exist­ing and no fur­ther con­struc­tion works are required. | No effect | | Scot­tish Cross­bill | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites and for­aging hab­it­at | Tem­por­ary | There is no evid­ence that spe­cies affected by dis­turb­ance; spe­cies does not nest on the ground. There­fore birds with­in SPA are not likely to be affected. | No effect | | Osprey | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new | Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites | Tem­por­ary | Nest sites are well man­aged and mon­itored by Rothiemurchus Estate. Gen­er­al recre­ation man­aged by | No effect | 9

| | devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | | | FCS and Rothiemurchus to encour­age recre­ation­al access to pro­moted paths away from nest sites. | | | Dot­ter­el | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | Increase dis­turb­ance to nest­ing from more vis­it­ors to rel­ev­ant hab­it­ats in the SPA | Tem­por­ary | Nest sites are in remote uplands. The num­ber of vis­its gen­er­ated by the devel­op­ment is not likely to have an effect. | No effect | | Golden eagle | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | Increase dis­turb­ance to nest­ing from more vis­it­ors to rel­ev­ant hab­it­ats in the SPA | Tem­por­ary | Nest sites are in remote uplands. The num­ber of vis­its gen­er­ated by new devel­op­ment to the SPA is likely to be very small and restric­ted to walk­ers and a few cyc­lists. Eagle nests are already in view of foot­paths so some habitu­ation is likely. The num­ber of vis­its gen­er­ated by the devel­op­ment is not likely to have an effect. | No effect | | Mer­lin | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | Increased dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites | Tem­por­ary | Nest sites are in remote upland sites in heath­er moor­land. The num­ber of vis­its from the devel­op­ment is not likely to have an effect. | No effect | | Per­eg­rine | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | Increased dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites | Tem­por­ary | Nest sites are usu­ally on inac­cess­ible cliff faces away from foot­paths, though some­times with­in sight. Tol­er­ance to people var­ies between indi­vidu­al birds but habitu­ation is sig­ni­fic­ant in oth­er sites near to Aviemore. The num­ber of vis­its gen­er­ated by the new devel­op­ment is not likely to have an effect. | No effect | 10

Kin­veachy Forest SPA, Aber­nethy Forest SPA, Craigmore Wood SPA, Anagach Woods SPA | Qual­i­fy­ing Fea­ture Affected | Pos­sible effect of devel­op­ment | Likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect | Dur­a­tion | Screen­ing assess­ment | Screen­ing out­come | | — -| — -| — -| — -| — -| — -| | Caper­cail­lie (all sites) | Increase in recre­ation (walk­ers, walk­ers with dogs, moun­tain bikers) in these SPAs which sup­port caper­cail­lie. This is dir­ect effect on these SPAs. | A reduc­tion in pro­ductiv­ity in neigh­bour­ing SPAs, redu­cing the viab­il­ity of the meta pop­u­la­tion through decreased migra­tion and increased hab­it­at frag­ment­a­tion. This could have an effect upon the Cairngorms SPA | Tem­por­ary | Aber­nethy Forest (5km away) – poten­tial small increase in occa­sion­al use SPA. Aber­nethy already exper­i­ences 40,000 vis­it­ors per year. The pro­pos­al of retain­ing 10 wig­wams for a fur­ther 3 years (or until the capa­city of 35 wig­wams is reached whichever is soon­er) would present a very small addi­tion to this fig­ure. Giv­en the dis­tance from Bad­aguish this fig­ure would be reduced fur­ther. There is already adequate pro­vi­sion for vis­it­ors at this site through man­aged foot­paths, vis­it­or centre and a trail warden. There­fore the effect of addi­tion­al vis­it­ors from the pro­pos­al is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. Anagach Woods (20km away) – The dis­tance of the pro­pos­al from this site, and giv­en that it is not a pro­moted place to vis­it from Glen­more area, it is unlikely to be a des­tin­a­tion for vis­it­ors at Bad­aguish. The effect of the pro­pos­al on this site is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. Craigmore Wood (12km away) — this SPA is not a pop­u­lar des­tin­a­tion with only one pro­moted path which skirts south­ern edge and no core paths. The pro­pos­al is unlikely to gen­er­ate sig­ni­fic­ant increase in users to paths; dis­tance from devel­op­ment means it is unlikely to be a sig­ni­fic­ant tar­get des­tin­a­tion. RSPB man­age­ment strategy is to keep num­bers low by | No effect | 11

| | | | | pro­mot­ing oth­er less sens­it­ive areas and not pro­mot­ing access and car park­ing. The effect of the pro­pos­al on this site is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. Kin­veachy Forest (8km away) – There is a well- developed estate path and track net­work which is used by walk­ers. Cyc­lists are largely kept away from the SPA from Aviemore side because of large deer fence that is crossed by stiles rather than gates. Altern­at­ive routes through Craigel­lach­ie NNR are well pro­moted and may ​‘inter­cept’ sig­ni­fic­ant pro­por­tion of poten­tial walk­ers from the pro­pos­al. NCN7 runs below Kin­veachy face out­with of SPA in this area. Giv­en the dis­tance from the pro­pos­al, and the low num­ber of poten­tial vis­it­ors, the effect of the pro­pos­al on this site is deemed insig­ni­fic­ant. | | | Caper­cail­lie (all sites) | Increase in recre­ation in Cairngorm SPA and non-SPA wood­land, increased dis­turb­ance redu­cing pro­ductiv­ity and sub­sequently a reduc­tion in dis­pers­al rate to these SPAs. This is an indir­ect effect on these SPAS. | A reduced dis­pers­al of birds from Cairngorm SPA into these SPAs, thus redu­cing the viab­il­ity and pro­ductiv­ity in these SPAs. | Tem­por­ary | Above screen­ing for the Cairngorms SPA shows Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect, there­fore there could be an indir­ect effect on these SPAs from the devel­op­ment. | Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant effect | | Scot­tish cross­bill (Kin­veachy SPA, Aber­nethy SPA) | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites and for­aging hab­it­at | Tem­por­ary | There is no evid­ence that spe­cies affected by dis­turb­ance; spe­cies does not nest on the ground. There­fore birds with­in SPA are not likely to be affected. | No effect | | Osprey (Aber­nethy SPA only) | Increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity from res­id­ents of new devel­op­ment with­in the SPA | Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites | Tem­por­ary | Nest sites are well man­aged and mon­itored by RSPB. Gen­er­al recre­ation man­aged by RSPB to encour­age recre­ation­al access to pro­moted paths away from nest sites. | No effect | 12

13

Stage 5: In-com­bin­a­tion effects No rel­ev­ant Likely Insig­ni­fic­ant Effects (Minor Resid­ual Effects) iden­ti­fied dur­ing screen­ing in the fol­low­ing plans: • Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 – 2020 • An Camas Mor • Boat of Garten hous­ing • A9 dualling

Minor Resid­ual Effects were iden­ti­fied dur­ing Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the fol­low­ing pro­jects: • Plan­ning applic­a­tions 2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET to erect 35 wig­wams at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre. This MRE was iden­ti­fied on the con­ser­va­tion object­ive ​“No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie” for the Cairngorms SPA. This occurred both dir­ectly, and indir­ectly, through dis­turb­ance in sur­round­ing non-SPA wood­land • The same MRE was iden­ti­fied in the applic­a­tion 2015/0375/DET to retain 10 tem­por­ary wig­wams at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre

The same Minor Resid­ual Effects has been iden­ti­fied dur­ing the Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the pro­pos­al (2017/0008/DET): • MRE on the con­ser­va­tion object­ive ​“No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie” for the Cairngorms SPA. This occurred both dir­ectly, and indir­ectly, through dis­turb­ance in sur­round­ing non-SPA woodland.

The MRE relates to the same pro­ject across all three applic­a­tions and still stands.

No MREs were iden­ti­fied in oth­er projects/​plans, there­fore there are no incom­bin­a­tion effects.

Stages 6 – 10 Assess­ment and Conclusions

Stage 6: Appro­pri­ate Assessment

The pro­pos­als have been screened in Stages 4 and 5. It was found that there were likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects upon the qual­i­fy­ing interests of Nature sites. As such, an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment was deemed necessary.

Cairngorms SPA Qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies and con­ser­va­tion status Caper­cail­lie: Favour­able Main­tained Per­eg­rine: Favour­able Main­tained 14

Dot­ter­el: Unfa­vour­able Declin­ing Golden eagle: Favour­able Main­tained Osprey: Favour­able Maintained

From SNH Site Link, 20/05/2015

Con­ser­va­tion objectives

To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies (lis­ted above) or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the site is main­tained; and To ensure for the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term:

• Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site • Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in the site • Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cess of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species

Is the oper­a­tion likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the qual­i­fy­ing interest?

Caper­cail­lie: Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect Per­eg­rine: No Effect Dot­ter­el: No Effect Golden Eagle: No Effect Osprey: No Effect

Will the devel­op­ment adversely affect the site’s con­ser­va­tion objectives?

In this assess­ment, the implic­a­tions of the plan­ning applic­a­tion for the site’s con­ser­va­tion object­ives are assessed in order to answer the ques­tion: ​“Can it be ascer­tained that the pro­pos­al will not adversely affect the integ­rity of the site?”

The over-arch­ing con­ser­va­tion object­ive of SPAs is to avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the sites is main­tained. This over-arch­ing con­ser­va­tion object­ive can be broken down into the fol­low­ing detailed elements:

To ensure that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term for the qual­i­fy­ing species:

• Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the sites • Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in sites • Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies 15

In-com­bin­a­tion effects

As described at Stage 5 (screen­ing); no in-com­bin­a­tion effects have been identified.

Assess­ment against the Con­ser­va­tion Objectives

Caper­cail­lie (dir­ect effects)

1. Pop­u­la­tion of the caper­cail­lie as a viable com­pon­ent of the sites

A Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect has been iden­ti­fied on the Cairngorms SPA by vis­it­ors to the pro­pos­al recre­at­ing in wood­land with­in the SPA. A lek site and brood rear­ing areas with­in the SPA are with­in walk­ing dis­tance of the Bad­aguish Centre and there is poten­tial for increased recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance in these areas.

Increased recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance could render this hab­it­at unsuit­able for caper­cail­lie, thus redu­cing the pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie in this area and dis­turb­ance may also have an effect on pro­ductiv­ity by redu­cing either breed­ing or brood rear­ing success.

The VMP con­tains meas­ures to spe­cific­ally tar­get the effect of res­id­ents on the sur­round­ing wood­lands. These meas­ures include:

• A no dogs policy in the wig­wam and camp­ing areas • Plant­ing along wood­land edge that will provide screen­ing of the north­ern part of the site and help min­im­ise dis­turb­ance, as well as provid­ing a nat­ur­al bar­ri­er to move­ment off-path • Signs at key access points advising vis­it­ors to stay on des­ig­nated tracks and avoid dis­turb­ance to wild­life • Brief­ing of all vis­it­ors on arrival by a res­id­ent warden

Wood­land sur­round­ing the Bad­aguish centre com­prises dense, semi-mature stands of com­mer­cial spruce and pine on rough ploughed ground with open drains which will deter those wan­der­ing off- path.

Des­pite the increase in num­ber of users to the site, these meas­ures will be applic­able to the whole of the site and so not only will they be suf­fi­cient to mit­ig­ate the effect of the new devel­op­ment but it is con­sidered that there will be a change in the beha­viour of users on the exist­ing devel­op­ment that will bene­fit the birds.

We have con­sidered the evid­ence and advice offered by SNH and oth­ers and con­cluded that the meas­ures out­lined in the VMP to man­age vis­it­ors will avoid sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie with­in the Cairngorms SPA. Con­sequently there will be no adverse effect on this con­ser­va­tion objective.

1. Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie and struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­at sup­port­ing capercaillie

The pro­pos­al area lies out with the SPA and is not a wood­land site – being situ­ated with­in the already developed area of the out­door centre. There­fore there is no loss of sup­port­ing hab­it­at through the proposal.

We con­clude that there will be no adverse effect upon this con­ser­va­tion object­ive. 16

1. No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of capercaillie

There are three ways in which the pro­pos­al could cause increased dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie in the Cairngorms SPA:

• An increase in walk­ers recre­at­ing in the Cairngorms SPA • An increase in moun­tain bikers recre­at­ing in the Cairngorms SPA • Either of the above using unau­thor­ised trails which could increase the area of dis­turb­ance in the Cairngorms SPA

An increase in walk­ers and moun­tain bikers and use of unau­thor­ised trails

Although the pro­vi­sion of addi­tion­al wig­wams through the pro­pos­al means that an increase in vis­it­ors to the site is expec­ted; due to the nature of activ­it­ies on the site, the major­ity of vis­it­ors are on organ­ised out­door activ­it­ies away from the site dur­ing the day­time in areas away from the Cairngorms SPA. Vis­it­ors may recre­ate around the site and in wood­land sur­round­ing Bad­aguish (includ­ing the SPA) in the morn­ings and even­ings, but this is likely to be a small pro­por­tion of the over­all vis­it­or numbers.

A Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan has been provided as part of the applic­a­tion which includes the fol­low­ing meas­ures which are cur­rently act­ive on the site:

• Plant­ing along wood­land edge to screen the north­ern part of the site and help min­im­ise dis­turb­ance, as well as provid­ing a nat­ur­al bar­ri­er to move­ment off-path • Signs at key access points advising vis­it­ors to stay on des­ig­nated tracks and avoid dis­turb­ance to wild­life • Brief­ing of all vis­it­ors on arrival by a res­id­ent warden

There is poten­tial that vis­it­ors, par­tic­u­larly moun­tain bikers, could devel­op and use inform­al, unau­thor­ised trails which could increase the area of disturbance.

The Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan will pre­vent the estab­lish­ment of new unau­thor­ised trails and close exist­ing unau­thor­ised trails where necessary.

Even with these meas­ures in place, a Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect caused by dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie through vis­it­ors dis­turb­ing a lek site or hens with brood can­not be ruled out entirely. There is still a chance that one per­son may wander off-path and dis­turb a lek site, but it not likely to be at a fre­quency to have an adverse effect.

The VMP details how the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre and Forestry Com­mis­sion Scot­land (FCS) the landown­er – will work closely to mon­it­or vis­it­or beha­viour and identi­fy poten­tial man­age­ment issues which have poten­tial to impact caper­cail­lie. FCS update the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre annu­ally with details of leks and brood rear­ing areas so that these areas can be avoided. It is pro­posed that a 6 monthly meet­ing between the two parties takes place to provide updates on 17

vis­it­or behaviour/​numbers and were change may be necessary.

Appro­pri­ate action will be taken if mon­it­or­ing finds that Bad­aguish vis­it­ors are hav­ing an impact, before this becomes an adverse effect (i.e. the relo­ca­tion of a lek or fail­ure of brood).

We have con­sidered the evid­ence and advice offered by SNH and oth­ers and con­cluded that the pro­pos­al will have a Minor Resid­ual Effect (Likely Insig­ni­fic­ant Effect) to caper­cail­lie with­in the Cairngorms SPA. The meas­ures out­lined in the VMP will ensure that there will be no adverse effect dir­ectly upon this con­ser­va­tion objective.

Caper­cail­lie (indir­ect effects)

1. Pop­u­la­tion of the caper­cail­lie as a viable com­pon­ent of the sites

The Caper­cail­lie with­in Badenoch and Strath­spey exist as a meta-pop­u­la­tion and birds fre­quently move from site to site. The non-SPA wood­land around Glen­more is adja­cent to that with­in the Cairngorms SPA and birds are able to flow freely between these areas.

A Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect has been iden­ti­fied on the non-SPA wood­land sur­round­ing Bad­aguish which could have a knock-on effect on the Cairngorms SPA.

Increased recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance with­in non-SPA wood­land sur­round­ing Bad­aguish could render this hab­it­at unsuit­able for caper­cail­lie. Con­nectiv­ity between this non-SPA wood­land and the Cairngorms SPA may be impaired and the ​“meta-pop­u­la­tion” could suf­fer as a result.

Increased recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance could render this hab­it­at unsuit­able for caper­cail­lie, thus redu­cing the pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie in this area and dis­turb­ance may also have an effect on pro­ductiv­ity by redu­cing either breed­ing or rear­ing suc­cess and dir­ect mor­tal­ity of the birds.

The VMP con­tains meas­ures to spe­cific­ally tar­get the effect of res­id­ents on the sur­round­ing wood­lands which includes the fol­low­ing meas­ures which are cur­rently act­ive on the site:

• A no dogs policy in the wig­wam and camp­ing areas • Plant­ing along wood­land edges to screen the north­ern part of the site and help min­im­ise dis­turb­ance, as well as provid­ing a nat­ur­al bar­ri­er to move­ment off-path • Signs at key access points advising vis­it­ors to stay on des­ig­nated tracks and avoid dis­turb­ance to wild­life • Brief­ing of all vis­it­ors on arrival by a res­id­ent warden

Wood­land sur­round­ing the Bad­aguish centre is dense, semi mature stands of com­mer­cial spruce and pine on rough ploughed ground with open drains which will deter those wan­der­ing off-path.

Des­pite the increase in num­ber of users to the camp site, these meas­ures will be applic­able to the whole of the site and so not only will they be suf­fi­cient to mit­ig­ate the effect of the new devel­op­ment but it is con­sidered that there will be a change in the beha­viour of users on the exist­ing devel­op­ment that will bene­fit the birds.

We have con­sidered the evid­ence and advice offered by SNH and oth­ers and con­cluded that the meas­ures out­lined in the VMP to man­age vis­it­ors will avoid sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie with­in and out­with the Cairngorms SPA. Con­sequently there will be no adverse effect indir­ectly upon this con­ser­va­tion objective.

1. Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie and struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­at sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie 18

The pro­pos­al lies with­in the already developed area of the out­door centre and will not res­ult in any addi­tion­al wood­land loss or frag­ment­a­tion of habitat.

We con­clude there­fore that there is no adverse effect on this con­ser­va­tion objective.

3.No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of capercaillie

There are sev­er­al ways in which the pro­pos­al could cause increased dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie: • An increase in walk­ers recre­at­ing in wood­land around Bad­aguish • An increase in moun­tain bikers recre­at­ing in wood­land around Bad­aguish • Either of the above using unau­thor­ised trails which could increase the area of disturbance

Dis­turb­ance dur­ing construction/​installation

It was con­cluded dur­ing screen­ing that there is no effect from this source, for the reas­ons stated above in table 3.

An increase in walk­ers and moun­tain bikers and use of unau­thor­ised trails

Although the pro­vi­sion of addi­tion­al wig­wams through the pro­pos­al means that an increase in vis­it­ors to the site is expec­ted; due to the nature of activ­it­ies on the site, the major­ity of vis­it­ors are on organ­ised out­door activ­it­ies away from the site dur­ing the day­time in areas away from the Cairngorms SPA and neigh­bour­ing SPAs (see table 3). Vis­it­ors may recre­ate around the site and in wood­land sur­round­ing Bad­aguish in the even­ings, but this is likely to be a small pro­por­tion of the over­all vis­it­or numbers.

A Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan has been provided which includes:

• Plant­ing along wood­land edges to screen the north­ern part of the site and help min­im­ise dis­turb­ance, as well as provid­ing a nat­ur­al bar­ri­er to move­ment off-path • Signs at key access points advising vis­it­ors to stay on des­ig­nated tracks and avoid