Item5AA2020221LBCand20230229DETInvercauldArmsCommitteeReport

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED:

Refur­bish­ment of hotel to ser­viced apart­ments with ground floor events space and cinema room, erec­tion of leis­ure facil­it­ies, change of use of dwell­ing­house to offices, con­ver­sion of dairy build­ing to staff accom­mod­a­tion, con­ver­sion of mews to artist stu­dio, replace exist­ing foot­bridge, and erec­tion of asso­ci­ated ancil­lary build­ings at Inver­cauld Arms Hotel A93 U4m Near Inver­cauld Bridge To Glen­shee Road Brae­mar Brae­mar Bal­later Aber­deen­shire AB35 5YR

REF­ER­ENCE: 2023/0229/DET and 2023/0221/LBC

APPLIC­ANT: ART­FARM Prop­erty Ltd

DATE CALLED-IN: 29 May 2023

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve applic­a­tions for Full Plan­ning CASE OFFICER: Per­mis­sion and Lis­ted Build­ing Con­sent sub­ject to con­di­tions Emma Bryce — Plan­ning Man­ager (Devel­op­ment Management)

CNPA Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Applic­a­tion Site N 0 25 50 100 Meters

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The applic­a­tion site prin­cip­ally relates to the exist­ing Inver­cauld Hotel and its ancil­lary build­ings. The hotel is cat­egory C lis­ted and is of typ­ic­al Scots baroni­al design with fea­tures such as tur­rets, cor­bels and but­tresses. The build­ing has been sens­it­ively exten­ded over the years, although there are some less sym­path­et­ic 20^th cen­tury addi­tions. Loc­ated to the rear of the hotel are the former dairy build­ing and mews which are also both cat­egory C lis­ted. The dairy is cur­rently a ruin, how­ever parts of the mews have been recently refur­bished and are in use as a vil­lage pub (west wing) and staff accom­mod­a­tion for the applic­ants’ oth­er hotel (north wing). The east wing of the mews is under sep­ar­ate own­er­ship. The Omni­bus House also lies with­in the applic­a­tion site. This is a cat­egory B lis­ted tim­ber build­ing. It is of a dis­tinct­ive design and fin­ish, ori­gin­ally con­struc­ted as the ter­minus of the Great North of Scot­land Rail­way. It is cur­rently used as staff accom­mod­a­tion for the applic­ants’ oth­er busi­ness. There are a num­ber of trees on the site, the mature elms and limes are covered by a Tree Pre­ser­va­tion Order.

2. The main hotel site is accessed off the Glen­shee Road to the north. There is also access from the south off Castleton Place. The site, which is rel­at­ively flat, is loc­ated to the north­east corner of Brae­mar and is bound by agri­cul­tur­al land to the north and east, to the south by Castleton Place and to the west by the Glen­shee Road (A93).

3. The applic­a­tion site also incor­por­ates a small area of land to the north­east of the hotel site, across Glen­shee Road which is used as an inform­al car park. This area is bound by the A93 to the east and Clunie Water to the west with an exist­ing bridge over the river provid­ing access to the exist­ing core path (UDE12) on the oppos­ite side.

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=RV7Y NVSIOCP00

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

Title Draw­ing Date on Date Num­ber Plan* Received

Plan — Loc­a­tion Plan MP-005 21/04/23 26/05/23 Rev.03

Plan — Pro­posed Site Plan MP-020 21/04/23 26/05/23 Rev.07

Plan — Mas­ter­plan — Roof Plan MP-020 31/03/23 26/05/23 Rev.05

Plan — Mas­ter­plan — Ground MP-024 31/03/23 26/05/23 Floor Plan Rev.04

Plan — Hotel — Demo Ground PL-205 01/11/22 26/05/23 Floor GA Plan Rev.05

Plan — Hotel — Demo First Floor PL-206 01/11/22 26/05/23 GA Plan Rev.05

Plan — Hotel — Demo Second PL-207 01/11/22 26/05/23 Floor GA Plan Rev.05

Plan — Hotel — Demo Third Floor PL-208 01/11/22 26/05/23 GA Plan Rev.05

Plan — Hotel — Pro­posed Ground | PL-200 01/11/22 26/05/23 Floor GA Plan Rev.06

Plan — Hotel — Pro­posed First PL-201 01/11/22 26/05/23 Floor GA Plan Rev.06

Plan — Hotel — Pro­posed Second | PL-202 01/11/22 26/05/23 Floor GA Plan Rev.07

Plan — Hotel — Pro­posed Third PL-203 01/11/22 26/05/23 Floor GA Plan Rev.07

Plan — Hotel — Pro­posed Roof PL-204 01/11/22 26/05/23 GA Plan Rev.04

Plan — Hotel — North and South PL-301 01/11/22 26/05/23 Pro­posed Elev­a­tion Rev.02

Plan — Hotel — East and West PL-300 01/11/22 26/05/23 Pro­posed Elev­a­tion Rev.01

Plan — Pro­posed Site MP-080 31/03/23 26/05/23 Axon­met­ric 1 of 2 Rev.01

Plan — Pro­posed Site MP-081 31/03/23 26/05/23 Axon­met­ric 2 of 2 Rev.01

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

Plan — Omni­bus House Pro­posed Floor Plans Plan — Omni­bus House Pro­posed Roof Plan OB-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 205 Rev.01 OB-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 206 Rev.01

Plan — Omni­bus House — OB-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 Pro­posed Elev­a­tions 301 Rev.01

Plan — Omni­bus House OB-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 Pro­posed Intern­al Elev­a­tions 350 Rev.01

Plan — Mews — Pro­posed Ground | MS-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 Floor Plan 200 Rev.01

Plan — Mews — Pro­posed First Floor Plan MS-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 201 Rev.01

Plan — Mews — Pro­posed Roof Plan MS-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 205 Rev.01

Plan — Mews Loft — Pro­posed Extern­al Elev­a­tions Plan — Mews Loft — Pro­posed Extern­al North Elev­a­tion Plan — Mews Loft — Pro­posed Sec­tions MS-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 300 Rev.01 MS-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 301 Rev.01 MS-PL- 13/07/22 26/05/23 400 Rev.01

Plan — Dairy — Pro­posed Plans DR-PL- 13/07/22 05/09/23 206 Rev.03

Plan — Dairy — Pro­posed Elev­a­tions DR-PL- 13/07/22 05/09/23 301 Rev.02

Plan — Dairy — Pro­posed Detail Elev­a­tion DR-PL- 13/07/22 05/09/23 320 Rev.02

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 Plan — Dairy — Pro­posed Sec­tions DR-PL- 13/07/22 05/09/23 401 Rev.02

Plan — Leis­ure Build­ing — Ground | NB-PL200 | 14/04/23 26/05/23 Floor GA Plan Rev.01

Plan — Leis­ure Build­ing NB-PL201 31/03/23 26/05/23 Base­ment GA Plan Rev.01

Plan — Leis­ure Build­ing — Roof NB-PL205 31/03/23 26/05/23 GA Plan Rev.01

Plan — Leis­ure Build­ing — GA NB-PL300 31/03/23 26/05/23 Elev­a­tions 1 of 2 Rev.01

Plan — Leis­ure Build­ing — GA NB-PL301 31/03/23 26/05/23 Elev­a­tions 1 of 2 Rev.01

Plan — Ancil­li­ary Build­ings — GA AB-PL- 10/01/23 26/05/23 Site Sec­tion and Elev­a­tion 300

Plan — Ancil­li­ary Build­ings — GA AB-200 10/01/23 26/05/23 Plan

Plan — Ancil­li­ary Build­ings — GA AB-200 10/01/23 26/05/23 Roof Plan

Plan — Clunie Foot­bridge BR-202 31/03/23 26/05/23 Pro­posed GA Plan and Rev.01 Elevation

Plan — Clunie Foot­bridge BR-204 31/03/23 26/05/23 Pro­posed 3D Per­spect­ive Views | Rev.01

Plan — Clunie Foot­bridge BR-206 31/03/23 26/05/23 Pro­posed Detail Sec­tions Rev.01

Plan — Vehicle Track­ing — Fire Tender 21.0159- 01/01/23 26/05/23 NAR-XX- XX-DR-C- 9500 P02

Plan — Vehicle Track­ing — Van 21.0159- 01/01/23 26/05/23 NAR-XX- XX-DR-C- 9501 P04

Plan — Vehicle Track­ing — Car 21.0159- 01/01/23 26/05/23 NAR-XX- XX-DR-C- 9502 P02

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

Plan — Vehicle Track­ing — Refuse 21.0159- 01/01/23 26/05/23 NAR-XX- XX-DR-C- 9503 P03

Plan — Pro­posed Drain­age Lay­out 21.0159- 01/01/23 26/05/23 NAR-XX- XX-DR-C- 9400 P03

Plan — Tree Pro­tec­tion and IAB-2203- 31/03/22 26/05/23 Man­age­ment TP

Plan — Tree Pro­tec­tion IABB- 09/02/23 26/05/23 2302-TP

Oth­er — Plan­ning State­ment Rev. P03 26/05/23

Oth­er — Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Report Rev. P01 26/05/23

Oth­er — Noise Impact R‑9117D- 14/03/23 26/05/23 Assess­ment CM-DJC

Oth­er — Light­ing Report 26/05/23

Oth­er — Eco­lo­gic­al Sur­vey Report IABH- 19/10/21 26/05/23 2110-ES

Oth­er — Tree Sur­vey Report IAB-2203- 31/03/22 26/05/23 TR

Oth­er — Tree Sur­vey Report — IABB- 09/02/23 26/05/23 Clunie Water Bridge 2302-TR

Oth­er — Elm Tree Man­age­ment IAB-2023- 26/05/23 Report TM

Oth­er — Drain­age Strategy 26/05/23

Oth­er — Land­scape and Visu­al 26/05/23 Impact Assessment

Oth­er — Trans­port Report 784- 26/05/23 B034048

Oth­er — Pre­lim­in­ary 26/05/23 Envir­on­ment­al Risk Assessment

Oth­er — Design and Access 30/05/23 Statement

Oth­er — Con­struc­tion Meth­od 31/05/23 Statement

Oth­er — Omni­bus House Offices 31/03/23 04/09/23 Document

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

Oth­er — Hotel — Swift Sur­vey IAH- 30/08/23 30/08/23 2308-SS

Oth­er — Hotel — Bat Emer­gence Sur­vey IAH- 23/08/23 24/08/23 2308-BS

Oth­er — Hotel — Bat Roost ICH-2201- 20/01/21 26/05/23 Poten­tial Sur­vey BRP

Oth­er — Bat Sur­vey — Mews ICB-2110- 05/10/21 26/05/23 BS

Oth­er — Bat Sur­vey — Dairy IMP- 05/10/21 26/05/23 2110-BS

Oth­er — Bat Sur­vey — An ICB-3209- 30/09/21 26/05/23 Crom­lon BS

Oth­er — Hotel — Swift Sur­vey IAH- 30/08/23 30/08/23 Report 2308-SS

Oth­er — Mews and Dairy — Swift ICB-2110- 07/10/21 26/05/23 Sur­vey Report SS

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

1. Two applic­a­tions have been sub­mit­ted seek­ing plan­ning per­mis­sion and lis­ted build­ing con­sent for the refur­bish­ment and res­tor­a­tion of the Inver­cauld Hotel and its ancil­lary build­ings. The full plan­ning per­mis­sion also seeks con­sent for the con­struc­tion of a new leis­ure facil­ity and the over­all redevel­op­ment and upgrad­ing of the wider site. The pro­pos­als com­prise the fol­low­ing ele­ments: α) b) the refur­bish­ment and res­tor­a­tion of the C lis­ted hotel build­ing to provide short term let, ser­viced apart­ments, a ground floor events space and cinema room. The pro­posed works will include the remov­al of unsym­path­et­ic exten­sions and the addi­tion of respect­ful infill ele­ments which will be mainly to the rear, the replace­ment of all the uPVC win­dows with tim­ber sash and case­ment win­dows to reflect the ori­gin­al ones and the repair or exact replace­ment of the building’s archi­tec­tur­al fea­tures, slate roof areas, lead­work and masonry. Exist­ing and new ser­vice pen­et­ra­tions will have her­it­age cast iron grills and where they ter­min­ate at roof level, will have leaded her­it­age cowls.

A new entrance can­opy is pro­posed in the recess between the ori­gin­al build­ing and a slightly later exten­sion. This is a sec­ond­ary entrance and will be to the main events space to allow for func­tions held here to be kept sep­ar­ate from the main use of the premises (ser­viced apart­ments). The rear (east) elev­a­tion of the hotel build­ing will be ration­al­ised and poor 20^th

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 cen­tury addi­tions removed and new, more sym­path­et­ic and respect­ful ele­ments of con­tem­por­ary design intro­duced. It is inten­ded that this façade will also be a pub­lic face to the hotel, address­ing the rein­stated court­yard and provid­ing pub­lic access as well as ​‘back of house’ ser­vices. An exist­ing chim­ney will be reduced in height and fin­ished and detailed to match adja­cent ones. Intern­ally the pro­pos­als seeks to retain as many ori­gin­al fea­tures as pos­sible, and where neces­sary rein­tro­duce tra­di­tion­al mater­i­als where these have been lost in the past. It is pro­posed to sub­divide the bar which will in part form a hotel lib­rary with the remain­ing space being incor­por­ated into a new apart­ment. The din­ing room will also be sub­divided to form a new apart­ment. Down­tak­ings and modi­fic­a­tions will be great­er on the upper levels to accom­mod­ate the twenty one 1, 2, 3 and 4 bed­room apartments.

c) the refur­bish­ment and res­tor­a­tion of the C lis­ted Dairy build­ing to provide staff accom­mod­a­tion (10, one bed­room units). The rem­nants of the ori­gin­al gran­ite walls will be util­ised at ground floor level. A second storey will be intro­duced which will be clad in ver­tic­al tim­ber with a pitched roof clad in nat­ur­al slate. Exist­ing ground­floor arch­ways will be infilled with recessed tim­ber and glass and a new pend formed at the hinge point of the ​‘L’ shaped foot­print provid­ing access to the intern­al courtyard;

d) the refur­bish­ment and res­tor­a­tion of the C lis­ted Mews south wing to provide 2 artist stu­di­os and work­shop facil­it­ies (the north wing is in sep­ar­ate own­er­ship and will be retained as exist­ing with some minor, ​‘make good’ works). The works to the mews will include a high level dormer barn door to match exist­ing mews doors, a dormer to match exist­ing ones which will accom­mod­ate a lift and an extern­al met­al fire escape stair­way. Exist­ing arch­ways will be infilled in tim­ber and glass with tim­ber shut­ters repla­cing exist­ing barn doors. Where exit­ing fea­tures can be retained these up be repaired and refurbished;

e) the refur­bish­ment and res­tor­a­tion of the Cat­egory B lis­ted Omni­bus House to provide office space. Works will involve a minor amend­ment to the intern­al lay­out and rein­stat­ing ori­gin­al fin­ishes both intern­ally and externally;

f) the erec­tion of a new leis­ure facil­it­ies build­ing which will con­tain a four lane, 25m swim­ming pool, a gym, yoga stu­dio and ancil­lary space (back of house offices, chan­ging facil­it­ies and a plantroom space). The design concept takes ref­er­ence from a

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 defens­ive wall enclos­ure (a barmkin) sur­round­ing the prin­cip­al build­ing with small ancil­lary build­ings behind it. The pro­pos­al is for a gran­ite wall which will run round the north and part of the east and west elev­a­tions of the leis­ure build­ing. The build­ing itself will be single story and of a con­tem­por­ary design, pre­dom­in­antly fin­ished in tim­ber. The build­ing will have a flat, ​‘green’ roof;

g) the con­struc­tion of addi­tion­al ancil­lary build­ings includ­ing a work­shop, bat­tery and the CHP plant build­ing, a gen­er­at­or, back up gen­er­at­or, fleet vehicle fuel tank and bur­ied LPG tanks;

h) the replace­ment of an exist­ing foot­bridge over the Clunie Water; the pro­posed bridge is of a simple design with a single steel beam sup­port­ing a steel grate deck­ing and tim­ber bal­us­trade made from larch. It will be approx­im­ately 1.2 metres wide with a stepped plat­form at the west side provid­ing a safer access to and from the core path. Adjoin­ing fen­cing and deer gates will be replaced or made good.

i) an integ­rated land­scap­ing scheme incor­por­at­ing ped­es­tri­an and vehicu­lar cir­cu­la­tion across the site. Exist­ing hard and soft land­scap­ing to the north, south and west of the site will be retained where appro­pri­ate and upgraded as neces­sary. The rear (east) of the site involves level changes and points of access and there­fore requires a more inform­al approach to the land­scap­ing here with stepped and ramped access, seat­ing and sheltered areas.

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

His­tory

1. There have been sev­er­al applic­a­tions for minor works (sig­nage, install­a­tion of flues, elec­tric char­ging point, etc.) to the hotel in the past.

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Appraisal

1. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al [HRA] has been under­taken to con­sider the effects of the pro­pos­al upon the con­ser­va­tion object­ives of the European Sites: River Dee Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion (SAC). А copy of the HRA is attached at Appendix 2.

2. The HRA iden­ti­fies that there are poten­tial impacts to the River Dee SAC due to the works asso­ci­ated with the renew­al of the footbridge

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 dir­ectly above the Clunie Water which could lead to a pol­lu­tion event e.g. silt or fuels enter­ing the water­course which could poten­tially impact on pop­u­la­tions of Atlantic sal­mon and fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel. Short term effects could rise from changes in water qual­ity or longer term impacts from smoth­er­ing of any suit­able breed­ing hab­it­ats down­stream of the works. How­ever, mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures are recom­men­ded and a con­di­tion requir­ing a Pol­lu­tion Pre­ven­tion Plan to ensure the risk of pol­lu­tion can be reduced to a min­im­al level should be attached to any con­sent gran­ted. The pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion plan should include detailed meas­ures to pro­tect Clunie Water from the release of sed­i­ments or oth­er pol­lut­ants and adhere to good prac­tice meas­ures. This will ensure all con­ser­va­tion object­ives are met and there will be no adverse impact on site integ­rity for the River Dee SAC

DEVEL­OP­MENT PLAN CON­TEXT Policies Nation­al Policy Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 (NPF4) Scot­land POLICY 1 POLICY 2 POLICY 3 POLICY 4 POLICY 6 POLICY 7 POLICY 9 POLICY 12 POLICY 13 POLICY 14 POLICY 22 POLICY 25 POLICY 27 POLICY 29 POLICY 30 POLICY 31 2045 Officer will delete policies that are not rel­ev­ant Tack­ling the Cli­mate and Nature Crises Cli­mate Mit­ig­a­tion and Adapt­a­tion Biod­iversity Nat­ur­al Places Forestry, Wood­land and Trees His­tor­ic Assets and Places Brown­field, Vacant and Derel­ict Land, and Empty Build­ings Zero Waste Sus­tain­able Trans­port Design, Qual­ity and Place Flood Risk and Water Man­age­ment Com­munity Wealth Build­ing City, Town, Loc­al and Com­mer­cial Centres Rur­al Devel­op­ment Tour­ism Cul­ture and Creativity

Stra­tegic Policy Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 2027

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 Loc­al Plan Policy Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan POLICY 1 POLICY 2 POLICY 3 POLICY 4 POLICY 5 POLICY 6 POLICY 7 POLICY 8 POLICY 9 POLICY 10 POLICY 11 (2021) Those policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this applic­a­tion are marked with a cross NEW HOUS­ING DEVEL­OP­MENT SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH DESIGN AND PLACE­MAK­ING NAT­UR­AL HER­IT­AGE LAND­SCAPE THE SIT­ING AND DEISGN OF DIGIT­AL COM­MU­NIC­A­TIONS EQUIP­MENT RENEW­ABLE ENERGY OPEN SPACE, SPORT AND RECRE­ATION CUL­TUR­AL HER­IT­AGE RESOURCES DEVELOPER OBLIG­A­TIONS X X X X X X X

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 2021. 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​-LDP- 2021-web.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.

Policy 1 Hous­ing Sup­ple­ment­ary Guid­ance Policy 2 Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth Non-Stat­utory X Guid­ance Policy 3 Design and Place­mak­ing Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance X Policy 4 Nat­ur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance X Policy 5 Land­scape Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance X Policy 7 Renew­able Energy Non-Stat­utory Guidance

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 Policy 8 Open Space, Sport and Recre­ation Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance Policy 9 Cul­tur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance X X 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:

2. NatureScot advise that the site lies next to the River Dee SAC pro­tec­ted for its European otters, fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sels and Atlantic sal­mon. They agree with the con­clu­sions of the Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprasi­al, that with appro­pri­ate mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures secured through plan­ning con­di­tion that there will be no effect on the site integ­rity of the River Dee SAC.

3. In terms of the Deeside and Loch­nagar Nation­al Scen­ic Area (NSA), giv­en the devel­op­ment is with­in an exit­ing set­tle­ment and is for the refur­bish­ment of exist­ing build­ings, the object­ives of the des­ig­na­tion and over­all integ­rity of the NSA will not be compromised.

4. Scot­tish Water has no objec­tion to the pro­pos­als, but sug­gest the applic­ant com­pletes a Pre-Devel­op­ment Enquiry (PDE) form ensur­ing the devel­op­ment can be ser­viced. There is cur­rently capa­city in the Brae­mar Water Treat­ment Works to ser­vice the pro­posed devel­op­ment. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is with­in the Brae­mar Waste Water Treat­ment Works catch­ment area but sug­gest the applic­ant com­pletes a Pre-Devel­op­ment Enquiry (PDE) form ensur­ing the devel­op­ment can be serviced.

5. Scot­tish Water records show that the is live infra­struc­ture with­in the site bound­ary (a 3‑inch uPVC main and 150mm foul main) and there­fore the applic­ants should be aware that any con­flict with assets iden­ti­fied will be sub­ject to restric­tions on prox­im­ity of con­struc­tion. Writ­ten per­mis­sion must be obtained before any works are star­ted with­in the area of any assets.

6. A review of records shows that the pro­posed devel­op­ment falls with­in a drink­ing Water Catch­ment where a SW abstrac­tion point is loc­ated. This is a des­ig­nated Drink­ing Water Pro­tec­ted Area (DWPA) and it is essen­tial that water qual­ity and quant­ity in the area are pro­tec­ted. It is a rel­at­ively large catch­ment and activ­ity will be loc­ated a suf­fi­cient dis­tance there­fore risk is low, how­ever all SW pre­cau­tion­ary advice

13

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 must be adhered to and this des­ig­na­tion referred to in all future doc­u­ment­a­tion and pub­li­cised to those work­ing on the site.

1. Only in excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances will sur­face water con­nec­tions into the SW com­bined sew­er sys­tem be per­mit­ted. Any inten­ded con­nec­tion into the com­bined sew­er sys­tem will have to be assessed by SW.

2. North East Scot­land Bio­lo­gic­al Records Centre (NES­BReC) provided inform­a­tion on the bio­lo­gic­al data it holds for this site. It does not provide any advice in terms of the pro­posed development.

3. Aber­deen­shire Archae­ology Officer states that there is no archae­olo­gic­al mit­ig­a­tion required in this instance.

4. Aber­deen­shire Built Her­it­age Officer ini­tially sought for some addi­tion­al inform­a­tion and sub­sequently a num­ber of minor amend­ments that have been incorporated.

5. Aber­deen­shire Con­tam­in­ated Land Officer states that there are poten­tial risks from the pre­vi­ous use of the site and there­fore fur­ther invest­ig­a­tions are required. The sub­mit­ted Pre­lim­in­ary Envir­on­ment­al Risk Assess­ment report out­lines a scope of works for an intrus­ive site invest­ig­a­tions and it is recom­men­ded a con­di­tion is attached to any con­sent to ensure appro­pri­ate invest­ig­a­tions are under­taken in accord­ance with the Brit­ish Standard.

6. Aber­deen­shire Flood Risk team have no com­ment to make on this proposal.

7. Aber­deen­shire Infra­struc­ture Roads Devel­op­ment team has no objec­tions to the pro­pos­als sub­ject to con­di­tions relat­ing to car park­ing pro­vi­sion and sur­face fin­ishes and vis­ib­il­ity splays.

8. CNPA Eco­logy Officer notes that bat sur­veys were under­taken in July & August 2023 which iden­ti­fied three com­mon pip­istrelle roosts. One roost will be des­troyed by the pro­posed works, one dis­turbed and the oth­er roost will be unaf­fected by the works. The effected roost is for a single pip­istrelle and does not appear to be used for breed­ing pur­poses there­fore it is con­sidered that the impact on the loc­al bat pop­u­la­tion will be slight. Not­with­stand­ing this, giv­en the pro­posed destruc­tion of one roost and the poten­tial dis­turb­ance of anoth­er, a licence from NatureScot with be required. How­ever, giv­en the types of roosts iden­ti­fied, the works are con­sidered low impact and there­fore it is con­sidered that a licence is likely to be gran­ted or works could take

14

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 place under a BLIMP (bat low impact licence). As per licens­ing guidelines, a bat pro­tec­tion plan will be required and a copy of it and the licence should be sub­mit­ted to CNPA for records pri­or to works com­men­cing on site. It is expec­ted that the works will be mon­itored by a bat licensed eco­lo­gist and for works which may dis­turb bats to com­mence out­with sens­it­ive bat peri­ods e.g. Oct/​Nov or March/​April. Bat boxes should be installed as com­pens­a­tion for the loss of the roost advice on loc­a­tion should be sought from exper­i­enced bat eco­lo­gist. These mat­ters can be covered by an appro­pri­ately worded condition.

1. The officer also recom­mends pre-con­struc­tion sur­veys and where required, Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plan for red squir­rel and otter. It is also recom­men­ded that a con­di­tion be attached requir­ing a con­di­tion regard­ing the tim­ings of works to ensure breed­ing birds are not impacted on. In terms of the Clunie Water, it is recom­men­ded that the Pre­lim­in­ary Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment is updated to include site spe­cif­ic con­struc­tion meth­ods and should detail pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion meth­ods. Tree pro­tec­tion meth­ods and the Arbor­i­cul­tur­al Meth­od State­ment must be imple­men­ted in full.

2. CNPA Land­scape Officer has no objec­tions and states that the pro­posed devel­op­ment would gen­er­ally relate well to the loc­al land­scape char­ac­ter and visu­al amen­ity of the area and the rel­ev­ant SLQs. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is of a high qual­ity design and will res­ult in many pos­it­ive effects in the loc­al land­scape and will rein­force the dis­tinct­ive­ness of the land­scape and loc­al sense of place. There con­cern regard­ing how the pro­posed devel­op­ment will fit with the land­scape on its north­ern side and the impact on the view on the approach to Brae­mar from this dir­ec­tion. Spe­cific­ally, the pro­posed leis­ure build­ing will appear prom­in­ent and con­trast­ing giv­en its large hori­zont­al form. These effects, how­ever, could be reduced with addi­tion­al land­scape mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures. Fur­ther­more, the prom­in­ent mature elm tree (T29) next to the hotel and A93 is extremely sens­it­ive to the pro­posed devel­op­ment, how­ever this can be safe­guarded with addi­tion­al com­mit­ment to pro­tec­tion meas­ures. It is con­sidered that both these issues could be covered by sus­pens­ive plan­ning conditions.

3. CNPA Out­door Access Officer has no objec­tions to the pro­posed ped­es­tri­an replace­ment bridge over the Clunie Water sub­ject to the sub­sequent agree­ment of the bridge deck finish.

4. Brae­mar Com­munity Coun­cil has no objec­tion, how­ever state that they are hope­ful that suf­fi­cient staff accom­mod­a­tion will be provided to alle­vi­ate hous­ing pres­sure on the village.

15

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

1. The applic­a­tions were advert­ised when they were first sub­mit­ted. The Aber­deen­shire South Access Pan­el has provided com­ments on the Lis­ted Build­ing con­sent seek­ing an appro­pri­ate level of dis­abled park­ing pro­vi­sion. No oth­er let­ters of rep­res­ent­a­tion have been received.

APPRAIS­AL

1. This apprais­al cov­ers both the full plan­ning applic­a­tion, 2023/0229/DET, and the lis­ted build­ing con­sent applic­a­tion 2023/0221LBC.

2. The main con­sid­er­a­tions are con­sidered to be, the prin­ciple of the devel­op­ment, cul­tur­al her­it­age and design, land­scape and amen­ity, envir­on­ment­al impacts, access and ser­vi­cing and con­tam­in­ated land.

Prin­ciple

1. NPF4 Policy 2: Cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion and adapt­a­tion sup­ports devel­op­ment that retro fit exist­ing devel­op­ments, while Policy 9: Brown­field, vacant and derel­ict land and empty build­ings sup­ports devel­op­ment for the sus­tain­able reuse of brown­field land includ­ing vacant and derel­ict land and buildings.

2. Policy 2.2 Tour­ist Accom­mod­a­tion of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 sup­ports tour­ist related accom­mod­a­tion where: α) it has no adverse envir­on­ment­al or amen­ity impacts on the site or neigh­bour­ing areas, b) it con­trib­utes to/​supports the pro­vi­sion of a wide range of vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion; and c) it sup­ports or con­trib­utes to a year-round economy.

3. Policy 2.3 Oth­er tour­ism and leis­ure devel­op­ments sup­ports devel­op­ment which enhances recre­ation and leis­ure facil­it­ies; tour­ism and leis­ure-based busi­ness activ­it­ies and attrac­tions; and improved oppor­tun­it­ies for respons­ible out­door access where: α) it has no adverse envir­on­ment­al or amen­ity impacts on the site or neigh­bour­ing areas; b) it makes a pos­it­ive con­tri­bu­tion to the exper­i­ence of vis­it­ors; and c) it sup­ports or con­trib­utes to a year-round economy.

16

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5

1. The pro­posed devel­op­ment will ren­ov­ate and bring the former hotel build­ing back into use with self-cater­ing accom­mod­a­tion offer­ing much needed addi­tion­al and a more diverse type of tour­ist accom­mod­a­tion with­in Brae­mar. This will be aug­men­ted by the addi­tion­al leis­ure facil­it­ies (pool, gym, yoga stu­dio and cinema room) loc­ated on the wider brown­field site to the rear of the hotel build­ing. This will also be avail­able for loc­al res­id­ents to use which will greatly improve the pro­vi­sion of loc­al amen­it­ies and will ensure year-round use of these facil­it­ies. The site is well loc­ated and eas­ily access­ible by all modes of trans­port and the pro­posed replace­ment bridge will improve access links to the exist­ing core path.

2. The prin­ciple of the devel­op­ment is con­sidered to accord with NPF4 Policy 2: Cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion and adapt­a­tion and Policy 9: Brown­field, vacant and derel­ict land and empty build­ings and Policy 2: Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 sub­ject to com­pli­ance with oth­er rel­ev­ant NPF4 and Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan policies.

Cul­tur­al Her­it­age and Design

1. NPF4 Policy 7: His­tor­ic assets and places sup­ports devel­op­ment pro­pos­als for the reuse, alter­a­tion or exten­sion of a lis­ted build­ing where they pre­serve its char­ac­ter, spe­cial archi­tec­tur­al or his­tor­ic interest and set­ting. NPF4 Policy 14: Design, qual­ity and place sup­ports devel­op­ment where it is con­sist­ent with the six qual­it­ies of suc­cess­ful places; healthy, pleas­ant, con­nec­ted, dis­tinct­ive, sus­tain­able and adaptable.

2. Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 seeks to rein­force and enhance the char­ac­ter of the exist­ing set­tle­ment and encour­age new devel­op­ment to be sym­path­et­ic to the tra­di­tion­al pat­tern and char­ac­ter of the area, whilst encour­aging innov­at­ive design and fin­ishes. Policy 3.5 Con­vert­ing exist­ing build­ing stock sup­ports the con­ver­sion of exist­ing build­ing stock where the build­ing con­ver­sion works main­tain the style and ori­gin­al build­ing in terms of form, scale mater­i­als and detail­ing where they con­trib­ute pos­it­ively to the con­text and set­ting of the area.

3. Policy 9: Cul­tur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 aims to pro­tect the cul­tur­al her­it­age of